Zero Hour in Hazzard County
by Genevieve Kelly
Summary: Old enemies come back to Hazzard seeking the opportunity for revenge and a chance to regain the money lost to them thanks to the Duke boys stopping them from taking what they believed was rightfully theirs. The criminals' plans change due to unforeseen circumstances, changes that become tragic for the Dukes and big trouble for Boss Hogg. This story takes place after season seven.
1. Chapter 1

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter One

The Duke boys were racing through the back roads of Hazzard county like any other afternoon, being chased by the crooked sheriff, Rosco, and his deputy, Cletus, as they always did in hope of trying to put the two Dukes away for a good long time. They failed miserably every time, but it never did stop them from trying.

Bo stopped the General long enough to make sure that Rosco and Cletus were alright after they had gone and crashed into one another's police cars after they had tried to make the same jump the Duke boys made, from opposite sides of the big pond, bringing their hot pursuit to a wild close.

"Boy, you would think that Rosco and Cletus would learn by now that coming at us from different directions is never a good idea," Bo said as he laughed upon seeing that the two lawmen were just fine as they struggled to pull themselves from their vehicles.

"Yeah, but I don't think that'll ever happen," Luke responded as he patted his cousin's shoulder playfully and then turned back to the road in front of them. "Come on, let's get goin' before we're late with our mortgage money, or Uncle Jesse will have good reason to tan our hides."

Bo looked at him as he nodded quickly and turned back to the road as well, then answered, "You're right. It looks like that's enough fun for one day."

The large orange car with the Confederate flag on top continued its path toward town once again as Luke smiled and replied, "The day's only just begun. I'm sure there's plenty more fun ahead. After all, we have Boss' face to look forward to when he sees that we're in time with his money."

"Yahoo!" Bo cried out happily. "Ha! Ha! Won't he be thrilled?"

Thrilled was not exactly the emotion Boss Hogg will be feeling as soon as them boys pull up outside of Hazzard's jail where the man who ran all of Hazzard resided at most of the time, except for when he was out at the Boar's Nest for mostly any meal of the day unless he had it sent out to him wherever he was. Little did Bo and Luke Duke know that trouble had also just arrived back in town, and not the kind of trouble that they would simply be able to run away from this time.

Meanwhile…

Like the little fat man liked to do every day, sometimes twice on the days that were especially slow, Boss Hogg was sitting at his desk inside his office counting his millions, much of which was most likely gained illegally. In between counts, Boss would keep turning to the clock in front of him, anxiously awaiting for noon to come and go, believing that today was the day that he was finally going to get his hands on Jesse's farm, if his dimwitted brother in law and foolish deputy of his succeeded in delaying the Duke boys.

" _Say uh Boss, uh… little fat buddy, do ya have yer ears on, come back?_ " Rosco's voice suddenly came over the CB radio sitting before him, also on Boss' desk.

Boss quickly picked up the radio's mic and responded, "Rosco, it's about time. Tell me you got them Duke boys handcuffed in the back of your car. Tell me, you stopped them boys from coming here with that mortgage money of theirs."

He could hear Rosco gulp nervously, then answer again, " _Uh, I'm sorry, Boss. I'm afraid Bo and Luke got away again. They're heading straight into town. We couldn't stop 'em._ "

"Aagh, let me guess, you and Cletus both managed to wreck your patrol cars again after a long car chase," Hogg replied in frustration.

" _I'm afraid that's a 10-4,_ " the sheriff responded. " _I'm sorry, Boss. We'll get back as soon as Cooter gets here to tow us both out of this here pond we're stuck in._ "

Boss Hogg growled as he answered, "Yes, well see that you do. I'm gonna try to figure out a misdemeanor that we can charge them boys with once they git here and then you can cuff 'em."

The sheriff responded, " _Cuff 'em and stuff 'em. I love it, I love it! Rosco P. Coltrane over and out._ "

"J.D., did I just hear you and my baby brother plotting to come up with another one of your bogus charges against Bo and Luke Duke?" Lulu asked angrily when she all of a sudden came through the office door, which was cracked open, carrying a tray of food until she swiftly slammed it down on his desk upon overhearing part of their conversation. "I better have heard wrong!"

"Aw, but Sugarplum…" Boss tried to state as he looked between his wife and the tray of her famous fried chicken he loved so much.

She interrupted, "Don't you Sugarplum me, Jefferson. I thought I warned you about them foolish plans of yours, especially the ones that are meant to entrap those nice boys."

Boss Hogg answered coldly, "Nice? Ha! They ain't nice."

"Promise me you won't try nothing?" Lulu asked as she picked up the food and pulled it away from the man she loved, despite his greed.

"Aagh, all right fine, I won't do nothin' to 'em when they git here, unless of course they're late with their payment," J.D. replied worryingly.

"They won't be late," his wife replied smugly as she looked out the window, then set the tray back down and allowed her husband to eat the meal she brought for him. "They've just pulled up in the General Lee."

Hogg looked at the clock again and then whined, "And with six minutes to spare. Dog gone it!"

Suddenly the two Dukes charged into the room and laid the small envelop down on the fat man's desk, containing the full amount of the payment, then Luke spoke up saying, "Here we are, just in time, like always."

"Actually, with more time than usual," Bo quickly corrected his cousin. "Better luck next time, Boss!"

"Why are you wishin' Boss luck?" Luke asked as he looked at Bo.

The youngest of the Duke clan responded, "I ain't, not really. I didn't actually mean it."

Luke smiled as he answered, "Okay then. Let's git over to Miz Tisdale's. She said she's got that package for Uncle Jesse."

"I wonder what it could be," Bo stated. "Thanks, Boss, Mrs. Lulu!"

"Yeah, Yeah," Boss Hogg replied as the boys left, then continued eating. "Bo and Luke Duke are a pain in my backside. One day, them boys are goin' to git what's comin' to 'em."


	2. Chapter 2

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Two

Once the Dukes walked inside the post office, Bo was the first to speak up as he and Luke saw the wild old woman standing behind the counter sorting mail saying, "Afternoon, Miz Tisdale. How are you doing this fine day?"

She smiled upon seeing the boys enter and then answered, "I'm itching to go out and try my new bike I had brought in all the way from Atlanta. You boys wouldn't want to finish out the day for me by any chance, would ya?"

"I don't think we've got anything better to do," Luke responded as he looked over at his cousin, who simply shrugged, then they turned back to the little woman and smiled. "Why don't you go ahead, Miz Tisdale. Bo and I would be happy to help you out for today, but uh… before you go, do you have that package sent in for our Uncle Jesse?"

"Aren't you two darling boys," she replied as she reached up to pinch Luke's cheek, then turned around to reach under the counter and pulled out a small package for the boys to bring home for the man it was clear she had a big crush on. "I'm not sure what your uncle ordered, but whatever it is, must be very important. He called me the other morning and asked for me to call him the moment it was in."

Bo took the package and felt its weight, then shook it a little as he stated, "Huh, I wonder what it could be?"

Luke took it from his cousin and answered, "Don't know. Maybe it's that new ignition switch for our tractor we need to get it going again, although I didn't think we could afford it right now."

"I guess we'll find out later," Bo responded and then looked down at Miz Tisdale. "Go have fun, ma'am. This place is in good hands."

"I know it is," she replied as she also pinched the youngest Duke boy's cheek as well, then started toward the door. "Thank you, boys! I'll be back a bit later to close up. I owe you one!"

Bo and Luke watched her ride off on her new motorcycle as Bo laughed and said, "Boy, look at that woman ride!"

Luke nodded and answered, "She is amazin'. Let's get working, but first, I'm going to call Uncle Jesse and Daisy to let them know we'll be home a bit later."

"Bo, Luke, what are you doin' here?" Daisy asked as she walked into the postal office in time to hear them state that they wouldn't be home for a while. "Did Miz Tisdale have somewhere to be?"

"Only out there on the roads," Luke responded as he and Bo looked at their other cousin in surprise at her sudden appearance. "She got herself a brand new bike and was anxious to test it out. We offered to stay here and run things for her until she returns. What are you doin' here?"

Daisy smiled as she replied, "I was just in town to order a gift for an old friend now living in Savannah. She's getting married."

Bo nodded and spoke again saying, "That's great news!"

"Would you like me to tell Uncle Jesse about you staying in town for a while?" she asked as Luke handed her the package addressed to their guardian.

"That'd be great," Luke answered quickly. "And while you're at it, could you deliver this to him for us? I'm not sure what it is, but it's important to him. Miz Tisdale was adamant that we get it to 'im."

The middle Duke cousin responded, "Sure thing, sugar. I'm on my way. We'll see you tonight in time for supper?"

Bo and Luke nodded, then Luke replied, "We'd never miss Uncle Jesse's rattlesnake chili."

"Not a chance," Bo stated in agreement.

"See that yer not late," Daisy said smoothly as she walked toward the door and waved to the boys. "Bye!"

The two cousins started working once Daisy was gone and Luke suddenly snickered, as if he knew something that Bo didn't and Bo turned to look at him as he asked in confusion, "And what's so funny?"

Keeping the truth to himself, not wanting to remind Bo that his birthday, which he had obviously somehow forgotten about, was coming up in three days so as to not spoil the surprise he, Daisy, and their Uncle Jesse were planning for him, Luke simply smiled and answered, "Oh, nothing. Come on, keep sorting. This mail won't sort itself."

Inside Hazzard's one and only hotel down the street…

"So, we're here and so far, no one who would recognize us has seen us," one of the men sitting on the edge of one of the beds inside their room spoke curtly as he looked over at the man that appeared to be in charge of their reason for coming back into Hazzard. "And them cops would never suspect we would return here again either. What's this plan of yers?"

"Our plan is that we git the two million dollars Boss Hogg set our sights on several months ago," their leader responded. "Only this time, that's two million split only two ways thanks to Carney getting himself caught a second time after our escape. He was a fool. We're not going to make his mistakes."

Burke glared at his friend as he replied, "What makes you so confident, Perry? Them Dukes defeated us the last time we came to town. What makes this time any different? I mean, I'm all for getting our hands on two million, but it's not like we can steal another car and wire it to crash into a train carrying that kind of money, seeing as they don't do that around here no more. Besides, those hillbillies would be onto us real quick."

The convict named Perry smiled as he answered coolly, "Don't you worry. I've got a new plan to get us that money and then some. We now know how those Duke boys think, not to mention how Hogg and that stupid deputy of his thinks too. Come tomorrow, we'll both be rich men and we'll have our revenge on all those who put us away. Are you with me?"

"I suppose so, so long as this plan is foolproof," Burke's partner responded. "I won't go back to prison. Do you really believe we can pull this off? Those so called hillbillies outsmarted us all once before."

"Don't worry so much," Perry replied smugly. "We're gonna squeeze out of Hogg, all the money he's got and the Dukes will get all that they deserve too."


	3. Chapter 3

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Three

Later that evening, when Luke and Bo returned home, the boys finished up the rest of the chores that needed tending on their farm, then washed up and sat down at the table with Daisy and their Uncle Jesse for supper. After working all day and feeling exhausted from the hard work, the package addressed to their uncle was forgotten, at least for a while.

They were all getting ready to go to bed for the night when Luke suddenly remembered and asked curiously, "What was in that package that came for you today, Uncle Jesse?"

Bo looked between his cousin and uncle as he quickly added, "Oh yeah, I completely forgot about it. Did you order that tractor part already?"

"Not yet I ain't," Jesse replied in a huff. "You two know we can't afford that part yet. No, what came today was something given to me by someone very dear to me some time ago, something I thought lost."

"Well, what is it?" Bo asked when the old man didn't continue.

Uncle Jesse broke from his reverie and then answered, "I might just tell you three about it one day, but for now, I think I'm just goin' to go on to bed. I'll see you all bright and early. Good night."

The three cousins' guardian walked away and closed the door to his bedroom, then Bo turned to the others as he asked, "What do you suppose that was about?"

"I don't know, but he sure looked mighty sad just then," Luke responded worryingly, then shrugged and turned back to Bo and Daisy. "I'm sure he'll be back to his old self in the morning after a good night's sleep. Come on, I'm sure if it's something we should be worried about, Uncle Jesse would have told us. Everything's just fine. Let's git to bed. Four o'clock comes mighty early."

"You're telling me," Daisy replied as she turned and walked to her room as well. "A girl's got to get her beauty sleep. Good night boys."

The next morning…

Rosco's first deputy, Enos Strate, walked up the front porch outside of Boss Hogg's large home and rang the bell. After waiting for a few moments, the sheriff opened the door and invited the younger man inside, though wasn't too pleased to see the man he had a habit of calling a dipstick.

Enos spoke up cheerfully saying, "Good morning, Sheriff! I thought I'd come by and offer you a lift to work, seeing as your car and Cletus' car were both totaled yesterday. I don't think Mr. Hogg will be willing to offer you a lift in his own car."

Boss walked into the room carrying a plate of pancakes his wife had made for him, then set it down on the coffee table within the living room as he answered, "You got that right. It's so good of you to come Enos. Today you git to drive this dimwit brother in law of mine around no matter where he goes. Is that clear?"

"Yeah, I got it, Mr. Hogg," Enos responded, though he didn't sound too keen of the idea, not that it bothered Boss any. "That's why I'm here. I thought you might need me."

"I don't need you," the little man in white replied in between bites as Lulu walked in and placed down another plate full in front of him as she nodded a greeting to the young deputy, then started to walk back toward the kitchen. "But Rosco does. Now git out of here and allow me to enjoy my breakfast in peace."

Calling out from the other room, Lulu interrupted, "My brother and Enos ain't going anywhere until they're well and truly fed, just like you, and I don't want to hear one but from you, Jefferson."

J.D. scowled and then finally answered, "Fine, but they better hurry up. Them Dukes… I mean, crime don't wait for no one."

"Uh Boss, the telephone is ringing," Rosco stated quickly upon hearing the first ring, then finally had to pick it up himself when Boss seemed to ignore him as he continued eating. "This is Rosco P. Coltrane speaking. Who is this?"

" _Put the fat man on, Sheriff,_ " a gruff voice responded back coldly, the voice sounding familiar, though Rosco couldn't place it. " _We have some business to discuss._ "

Rosco stuttered as he replied, "Listen, you… you… whoever you are. Boss Hogg isn't in his office right now. If you want to talk with 'im, you've got to come in and may… maybe he'll agree to see you."

The man on the other end of the line answered back angrily, " _Listen, I don't care if he's not in right now! Put 'im on now, or my friend and I will come over there and kill you both and whoever else yer with right now. Do it!_ "

"Give it to me," Boss responded impatiently as he reached out for the phone, frustrated that his first big meal of the day was disrupted. "Yeah, this is Jefferson Davis Hogg. Who is this?"

" _It's Mr. Perry, you know, yer old pal you once hired to do a train robbery job for you?_ " the man replied smugly. " _Mr. Burke is here too. We've got a proposition for you._ "

Boss' eyes went wide as he cried out, "Perry! Why you… how'd you git out of the slammer?"

Perry answered, " _We had a little help, but that doesn't matter right now. Are you ready to listen?_ "

"Whatever you want, my answer's no," Hogg responded coolly.

" _What I want is the money you assured us we would receive for the robbery, as well as two million more for your part in the betrayal that got us all sent to prison for several months,_ " the man continued his threat. " _And we want it all by noon tomorrow. If you don't pay up, them Duke boys you protected are going to die, as they should have done back then. I hope I am making myself very clear this time, Hogg._ "

Boss tried to object as he replied, "Uh, uh! You can't do that! You can't hurt the Dukes… You won't be able to…"

Burke grabbed the phone as he cut the fat man off and said, " _We have our sights on Bo and Luke Duke right now, right here at their nice little farm. If you don't want to see any harm to come to them, or the rest of the Duke family, then I suggest you git us that four million dollars as soon as possible._ "

" _Don't try to test us, Hogg, or try to warn them boys that we're lookin' to git them back for the roles they played too, or else…_ " Perry warned coldly.

"Or else what?" the little man asked nervously.

Perry answered, " _Or else them Duke boys aren't the only ones who are gonna die. We're going to take one of 'em hostage very soon now, just for a little insurance. Now, we know the rest of the Dukes will fight to get the man we take back, but if you try anything we don't like, yer dead. Do you hear me?_ "

Boss Hogg scowled and wailed in attempt to protest, then finally responded miserably, "Yeah, yeah, I hear you. You have my word. I won't try nuttin'. Oh… Dag gone it!" 


	4. Chapter 4

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Four

"Uh… Boss, what's goin' on?" Rosco asked quizzically once his brother in law hung up the phone, seeing the worry and confusion on the little man's face. "What was that about them Duke boys getting' hurt?"

"Shhh… shhh… shhh…" Boss quickly whispered so that Lulu wouldn't be able to hear anything, then continued to speak to the other two lawmen softly. "Listen you two numbskulls, whatever you just heard, you can forget it! Nothing's wrong. Just go to work and do whatever it is you do any other day. Understood?"

Enos looked at the fat man in white and responded nervously, "Look, uh… Boss? I think… if Bo and Luke are in trouble, then maybe we should…"

Hogg interrupted angrily, "Them boys ain't in any trouble, Enos, except for the trouble that they'll be in when they are caught speeding along the roads like they always do, now get out there and arrest them the minute you see them. And if you have to arrest them for something else, arrest them for something else!"

"Something ain't right, Sheriff," Enos said after he and Rosco walked outside, leaving their boss behind to head to work as he ordered. "You heard how nervous Boss Hogg became when he was speaking to whoever he was speaking to on the phone."

"Who Boss was speaking to is none of yer business you dipstick, so drive me to work like you came here for and we can get to doing our jobs," the simple minded sheriff replied in frustration.

Enos didn't feel right about any of this, so he continued to argue as he answered, "I don't know, I really think we ought to head over to the Dukes', to see if…"

Rosco cut him off angrily saying, "No! The answer is no. Take me to work."

"Yes Sir," Enos responded reluctantly, but finally, then he did as Rosco asked as the two men headed into town for work, rather than into the country toward the Dukes' farm as they ought to.

Meanwhile…

Daisy poured her cousins a glass of fresh brewed iced tea she made that morning as Bo and Luke came walking into the kitchen from outside just as they finished with their morning chores. Farm work never seemed to end, but none of the Dukes ever complained, except for when any chance to race their car came up and their duties got in the way. The truth was, they all loved their farm. It was where their family resided and family mattered to each of the Dukes more than anything or anyone else.

"So, what's on you boys' list of things to do for today?" Uncle Jesse asked as he stirred the stew on the stove he was cooking up for dinner later that night.

As he took a seat beside the middle cousin, Luke looked between their uncle and Daisy as he replied, "I was going to drive Daisy into town later so that we can have a talk with Cooter about the brakes we ordered for Dixie last week. Something doesn't feel right about 'em. We'll take the General."

Bo took a sip of his tea, but didn't sit as Luke had, then he stated, "And I wanted to go have a visit with Mr. Potter. He seems to have been lonely lately, and I figured I would go and make sure he has everything he needs. He is getting up there in age you know."

"That's mighty nice of you, Bo," Daisy answered as she leaned up and kissed his cheek.

"Yeah, not really," the youngest responded. "I figure it's the least I could do after he bailed me out of jail the other day after Rosco threw me inside for that busted tail light he broke. Emery happened to be there while the rest of yous was out of touch. I may have paid 'im back the money, but…"

Uncle Jesse smiled and responded, "That's my boy. You can go ahead and take my truck. I figured I would stick around here on the farm anyway. There's more cooking to do for the town social on Saturday."

Bo quickly grabbed a homemade biscuit from off the table and headed out the door, then Luke and Daisy both followed suit after Daisy kissed her uncle on the cheek and made their way over to the General Lee, while Bo got into the truck parked beside them, then waved goodbye to their uncle as they drove off. None of the Dukes had a clue that they were being watched from a safe distance by two men that had it in for them.

As the Duke cousins walked outside and got into their cars, Burke spoke quietly to the man kneeling down on the ground beside him, the two of them using a large tree for cover, asking, "What exactly is your plan here? They're leaving."

"I say we follow the Duke boy who's alone in the truck," Perry replied smugly. "And we better hurry before he gets too far ahead of us."

"And if we do catch 'im, what then?" the other criminal asked again. "Where are we going to hide with him?"

As the two of them quickly ran to their own vehicle parked not too far down the road, but out of the way so that it wouldn't be spotted, then got into the car and began to drive after Bo as Mr. Perry answered, "That's what's so great about this hillbilly town, there are plenty of places abandoned or torn down for men like us to hide. Let's say we ram him off the road, shall we?"

Burke smiled and responded, "We're right on his tail. Get 'im!"

Bo, having split off from Luke and Daisy early on, was driving in silence until his thoughts were interrupted when the truck coming up behind him all of a sudden rammed into the rear of Uncle Jesse's truck, nearly forcing him off the road. However, Bo was the best driver in Hazzard County so it didn't take much for him to straighten out again until the men continued their attack, while Bo continued to try to keep on the road until he could lose them. He almost succeeded until the youngest member of the Duke clan noticed a large log lying across the road and he swerved off in order to avoid it, only managing to crash into a ditch along the side of the road.

Burke and Perry swiftly pulled over, jumped out of their own truck, and ran over to the driver's side of the other vehicle, then grabbed Bo roughly before he could regain his senses to see who had hit him and knocked him hard across the back of his head to knock him unconscious to prevent any chance of him breaking free.

"That was a good idea to lay that log here, Mr. Burke," Perry said again as they threw Bo into the back of their truck and then drove away with him, leaving Uncle Jesse's truck behind still in the ditch with the door still open. "I didn't think it'd do us any good. I'm glad to see that I was wrong."

"I figured that one of them Dukes would be coming by this way sometime today," Burke replied. "I'm just glad that it was this one. He's the one with the mouth. I'll be glad for the opportunity to rough him up a bit."

After driving in silence for a few minutes, Burke spoke again as he asked his partner, "Do you really think that Boss Hogg will give up four million dollars just to get back one Duke? You heard him, he hates these boys almost as much as we do and he's a real greedy bastard."

The criminal named Perry smiled as he looked over at the man beside him and answered coldly, "Oh, he'll pay up all right. The rest of his family will see to it that the right amount of pressure is put on him to break 'im. These Dukes will do anything to get him back, even steal from Boss Hogg themselves if they have to. Actually, that ain't such a bad idea. I may just have them other two cousins of his plan the robbery themselves, seeing as I doubt Hogg won't try to weasel his way out of paying us all that he owes us. It's a brilliant idea!"


	5. Chapter 5

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Five

"Mornin' Cooter!" Luke called out as soon as he and Daisy pulled up to their closest friend's garage and started to get out of the General. "What you got on yer plate today?"

"Well, not really much is goin' on at all," the town's mechanic answered as he patted Luke's shoulder when he and Daisy moved to stand with him inside. "Actually, I'm really glad you both are here. I thought today was going to be boring. What are you two doin' in town? Tell me Boss and Rosco ain't up to another one of their schemes again so soon?"

Luke chuckled as did Daisy, then she replied, "No, not yet, at least not that we're aware of. Actually, we're here because we were hoping we could speak with you about them brakes we ordered for Dixie. They feel a little off. If we were to bring her by later this afternoon, do you think you'll be able to take a look at her for us?"

Cooter smiled as he responded, "Shoot, all you got to do is ask. I'd be happy to look her over, but you don't suppose I could come back to the farm with you folks and check her out there, seeing as I know Uncle Jesse must be cookin' up a storm in that kitchen of yers for the social on Saturday?"

"Shoot, all you got to do is ask," Luke answered with a grin. "We were hoping you'd want to come over later. I think Uncle Jesse was cookin' his famous boar meat stew before we left this morning."

"Mmm, mmm, that's one of my favorites," the mechanic replied as he rubbed his hand over his belly in anticipation of the good meal he would be having with his friends later on in the day.

Having seen the General Lee drive through town from one of the windows inside the jail not long after he and Rosco had arrived themselves and stop off in the garage, Enos left the sheriff and walked over, entering just as Luke responded to Cooter's comment, "We know it's one of yer favorites. That's why we're invitin' ya. Hey Enos, yer welcome to come over for supper later too if you'd like?"

The deputy smiled widely as he answered, "I'd like that Luke. Hi 'ya Daisy. Gee, I'm sure glad to see you both are alright."

"Well, of course we're alright, Enos," Luke replied in confusion, seeing the nervousness on their friend's face. "Why wouldn't we be? What's goin' on?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure," the deputy responded, not sure where to begin. "You see, this mornin' I was over at Boss Hogg's to pick the sheriff up for work, as you and Bo had gone and wrecked his and Cletus' cars yesterday during yer chase, and while we were still there, Boss received this strange phone call that seemed to really rile Boss up, but when we questioned him about it, he jist told us to come to work and forgit about it."

Daisy shook her head, still confused as she asked, "I don't understand, why would you think something was wrong with us? Did Boss explain anything to you?"

Enos continued, "No, but uh… well, I heard Boss Hogg mention something about you Dukes being in some kind of trouble, that's all."

"What kind of trouble, Enos?" Luke asked fearfully as he moved to stand directly in front of the younger man. "Why would someone call Boss about us? Was it a threat?"

"Look Luke, Daisy, I promise you, I don't know any more than that," Enos answered as Luke looked between Daisy and Cooter worryingly, then back at the deputy for any more information that could help ease his mind. "Boss told us to git to work and so we did. I mean, it obviously wasn't true, seeing as you both are right here just fine."

Daisy looked nervously at her cousin as she replied, "Yeah, but Uncle Jesse's all alone back at our farm."

Luke quickly added, "Yeah, and Bo's off on his own too, heading over to Emery Potter's right now. Actually, he should be there by now. We need to try to call over there to see if he's made it, and call Uncle Jesse too, to make sure he's alright."

"I've already dialed Uncle Jesse's phone," Cooter responded as he held out the phone receiver to Daisy.

"Uncle Jesse, thank goodness!" Daisy exclaimed excitedly as soon as their uncle picked up on the other end. "Are you alright there? I mean, has anything strange happened?"

Jesse could tell something was wrong right away from the worry in his niece's voice as he answered, " _Of course I'm alright. Why wouldn't I be? Are you and Luke okay? And Bo?_ "

The middle Duke cousin nodded in relief to Luke, who blew out the breath he had been holding, then replied, "Yeah, we're both okay, but we don't know about Bo yet. We're goin' to try to reach him as soon as we git off the phone with you."

" _What's goin' on?_ " Jesse asked nervously. " _Why wouldn't I be okay?_ "

"It's a long story, Uncle Jesse," Luke responded upon taking the phone from Daisy. "We'll explain later when we get home. Stay by the CB in case we need to reach you again before we can get there. And call us if you hear anything or get into trouble, all right?"

Their uncle answered, " _Yeah, you've got it. And take care of each other, is that understood?_ "

Luke nodded and then stated, "Yes Sir."

"We need to call over to Mr. Potter's, to talk to Bo," Daisy said as soon as her cousin hung up with their guardian.

"Right," Luke replied as he did just that, then waited irritably for the old man to pick up at the other end of the line. "I don't know if he's going to…"

He didn't think Emery would pick up until Potter finally did as he said, " _Hello, who's this?_ "

Luke quickly responded, "Mr. Potter, this is Luke Duke. I'm calling to see if Bo has made it to see you yet? He was going to visit you and left home about a half hour ago. He should be there by now."

" _I'm afraid not, Luke,_ " the old man answered. " _I haven't seen 'im yet. Maybe he had a flat tire on his way here?_ "

"Dang it, even with a flat tire Bo would have been there by now!" Luke replied more to himself than to anyone else, having grown very afraid for his cousin's life. "Thank you Mr. Potter. We'll be in touch."

Daisy saw the fear on his face as he hung up dismally, then she asked worryingly, "What are we going to do, Luke? We have to find Bo!"

Luke pulled her into a hug in attempt to comfort her, as well as himself, then responded, "We're going to do whatever it takes to find him. We don't know for sure yet if he even is in trouble, but if he is… Don't worry Daisy, I'm sure he's going to be fine. First thing we're going to do is go over to talk to Boss and Rosco, to find out exactly what that phone call was really about."

"Uh… I doubt Boss has made it in town yet," Enos spoke up again finally. "He didn't seem to be in any hurry when we left. And he'll probably head on over to the Boar's Nest, to conduct whatever business he might have with whoever he was speaking to."

"That's a good point, Enos, and thank you," Luke answered as he reached out to shake his hand, then patted his shoulder. "We'll head over there by way of the route Bo headed off in to get to Potter's. Maybe he's stuck on the side of the road somewhere, or maybe we'll get lucky and find something that might lead us to 'im. Oh, one more thing, Enos. You didn't happen to hear Boss mention a name at all, did you?"

The deputy thought a moment and then replied, "Actually, I think I heard mention the name, Percy… Purdy… Terry… or…"

Daisy suddenly cut him off as she stated, "Perry! Oh God, Luke! Isn't that the name of one of them criminals we sent to prison for that train robbery Boss tried to pull a few months back?"

"That's right, it is," the oldest Duke cousin responded, then raced over to the driver's side of the General, as did Daisy and Cooter. "If he escaped prison, most likely either Burke or Carney, or both, are with 'im. And they're here because…"

"They're going to hurt Bo if we don't find him," Cooter answered quickly.

Daisy stared ahead angrily as she replied coldly, "When we find Boss, I'm going to give him a piece of my mind."

Luke responded, "Get in line."


	6. Chapter 6

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Six

Bo slowly awakened to the sound of two men arguing rather loudly, though his mind felt so muddled due to the hit across the back of his head, that the youngest member of the Duke clan was struggling to understand what it was they were saying, not to mention having difficulty even seeing. His head ached somethin' awful.

As Bo was gently shaking his head to try to regain his senses and get a sense of his surroundings, Burke finally looked down at their captive and saw that he was coming to, then said coolly, "The boy's back with us, Perry. It's about time."

Perry nodded in agreement, then replied, "And I was beginning to wonder if I had hit him too hard. Welcome back, boy."

"How are you… Perry and Burke, but I thought we put you in jail?" Bo responded when he finally recognized the two men standing over him.

"Oh, you did, but we managed to break out," Perry answered as he leaned down and blew smoke in Bo's face, while Bo struggled against his bindings, his hands being pulled behind his back and bound by a strong, thick rope to a post behind him, the same rope which also bound his ankles together, as well as held his upper body upright.

Bo coughed from the foul stench and turned his head away, then replied, "Thanks for that. Where the heck are we? And what in tarnation do you want with me?"

Mr. Burke chuckled and then responded, "You are simply the bait, boy. And where we are, is of no business of yours."

"I'm bait for what?" Bo asked again. "If you think kidnapping me to git money out of my family, you've got another thing comin' to ya. We ain't got none, especially for ransom, or whatever it is you think you'll get."

"Nope, actually we need you to help us git our hands on the money that should have been ours before you two Dukes spoiled our plans months ago," Perry answered as he took a seat on the cot that was lying against the wall in the long time abandoned distillery they were holed up in, far outside of town. "The two million we would have gotten from the train robbery, and two million more just for reprisal. Yer goin' to git Boss Hogg to pay up that money."

Bo laughed, then replied, "Now I know that you're crazy. Boss wouldn't give up a single dime to save my hide. You know that as well as I do. Well, maybe not as well as I do, but enough to know that Boss will never agree to give you one cent."

Mr. Burke smiled and responded, "Which is why your cousin and the rest of your family are going to rob Mr. Hogg for us, that is if they want to git you back, alive. And I have a feeling that they'll do just about anything for you."

"Now, you just hang on one cotton pickin' minute, if you think that yer going to put my family in danger, you've got another thing comin' to you!" Bo answered angrily. "You can't do that."

"I think we can," Mr. Perry spoke again smugly. "You don't get no say. You're going to just remain here tied up nice and tight until we git what we're owed and if you and that cousin of yours don't give us any more trouble than what you've already caused us since we've met, then you will be free to go. Mess with us again, then yer dead. Mr. Burke, gag 'im. I don't want to hear no more of his big mouth."

Burke suddenly backhanded Bo hard across his cheek, then punched him twice in the stomach just for pleasure, causing Bo to gasp in pain, then Burke did as Perry ordered and finally double checked the ropes to make sure the young country boy hadn't loosened them none. Unfortunately for Bo, Mr. Burke was excellent at tying knots. There was no way the youngest Duke was going to git free, without a little help.

Outside of the distillery, someone else was keeping his eyes on the place, sitting inside a car parked far enough away so that he wouldn't be seen. What Burke and Perry didn't know is that this man had been keeping his eyes on them ever since they stepped foot inside Hazzard County, and not for the reasons one might suspect. More trouble was comin' and Bo was smack dab in the middle of it.

Elsewhere…

Luke, Daisy, and Cooter were driving down the back roads along the route Bo would have taken to get to old man Potter's place. Everything was fine until Luke came to a sudden stop upon coming up to a log lying across the road, a log that didn't come from any tree or homestead around.

Luke spoke first asking rhetorically, "Where on earth did this dang log come from?"

Suddenly, as she pointed straight ahead of them at a ditch nearby, Daisy cried out, "And look, Uncle Jesse's truck's been run off the road!"

"Oh man, Bo's definitely in trouble," Luke replied despondently after running over to the driver's side of the truck, finding's its door still propped open, then reached inside to take a look at the CB. "If he just crashed on his own, he would have called one of us over the radio for help."

"Yeah, not to mention he'd still be here or would have walked back home to yer farm," Cooter responded nervously. "There's also another set of tire tracks that appear to come from a vehicle that was trailing Bo. You don't suppose whoever has 'im, might have laid this log across the road in hope to trap whichever one of us drove down this way?"

Luke nodded as he answered, "It's the only way this log could have ended up here. Perry and whoever else is with him planned to kidnap any one of us one way or another. Bo just happened to be the one they caught. No way none of us wouldn't have crashed coming around this corner we've all driven since we was old enough to with this dang log placed here."

Daisy looked at her cousin in concern as she asked, "Yeah, but what do these men want with one of us?"

"Daisy makes a good point," Luke replied as he ran his hand through his hair. "If it was just revenge, they would have just killed Bo, unless of course they plan to use him to catch the rest of us, but I have a feeling that there's something else they want. Besides, we wasn't the only ones who crossed them."

"That's right, Boss double crossed them when he sided himself with us to rescue you two when they had taken you and Bo hostage before," Daisy responded. "We need to go and have that talk with Hogg. Although, since we're right here, we should pick up Uncle Jesse first. He's better than the rest of us at getting any information from that crook."

Luke finally asked, "Cooter, could you drive the truck back to the farm for us?"

Their mechanic friend nodded as Luke and Daisy got back into the General, as Cooter into Jesse's truck, then he answered, "You've got it, buddy roe. It sure is goin' to be a real long day."


	7. Chapter 7

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Seven

Just as Enos figured, Boss Hogg had his driver drive him straight to the Boar's Nest as soon as the county's sheriff and his deputy left his home that morning. The fat man thought that if he stayed there, rather than head into town to his office at the jail, he'd be alone to think about what to do in regards to the threat made by the two criminals he had gotten himself into this mess with, and he'd be alone in case the men came by and wanted to chat. Boss wasn't sure if it would be better for them to talk face to face, or not. He wasn't exactly looking forward to dealing with them again after all the trouble they caused him the first time around.

He wasn't sitting there behind his desk for long when his phone rang and when he picked up, Perry spoke up as he said, " _Hello again, Hogg._ "

Boss became rattled as he responded, "Mr. Perry! Calling again so soon?"

" _That's right, Hogg, I am,_ " the criminal answered smugly. " _I just wanted to check in with you, to see how that four million dollars of yours was coming along, in being collected I mean?_ "

"Look, I… uh… now obviously it's goin' to take some time fer me to collect that much dough," Boss replied nervously. "Please, tell me you ain't gone and done somethin' to hurt them Duke boys?"

Perry chuckled, then responded, " _Nothin' more than a few punches and a knock to the back of the head. We've gone and caught us one of them Dukes and are holding 'im in order to make sure that we get what's comin' to us._ "

Boss cried out, "Oh no! Look, you can't hurt him, whichever one of them you've got. You don't understand what you've gone and done. If anything happens to one of them, the rest of them Dukes will bring Hell down on whoever hurt 'em. You've got to let 'im go!"

" _That all depends on you and the rest of the Dukes' cooperation_ ," the man on the other end of the line answered coldly. " _Now you jist finish gathering the rest of our money and then hand it over to the people we send in to collect. If you don't…_ "

"Uh… uh… uh… I promise to bring you home some pretty flowers for the center of our table, just like you want Sugarplum," Boss stated quickly upon the Dukes' sudden appearance as they and Cooter burst through the door fear clearly written all over their faces, not wanting them to know that he had been talking with the men, who obviously had taken Bo hostage, as he was the only one not there with them. "Jesse Duke, what on earth are you doin' breaking in here, without knocking first?"

Luke spoke first saying impatiently, "We want to know what in sam hell's goin' on, right now!"

Jesse pulled his nephew back and patted his back to try to calm him down, then looked down at the fat man sitting before them, staring up at them with his stomach full of nerves as he hoped he could keep up the lie even to his oldest, somewhat friend's face, and the patriarch finally stated, "You'll forgive my family's intrusion, J.D., but we want to know exactly what it is you and them men you were speaking to on the phone this morning are up to? Normally, I would allow you to git yourself in hot water, but this time your scheme has gotten Bo kidnapped and we want to know who's done it!"

"Now look, Uncle Jesse, I…" Boss began to spin his story until he was cut off again when the older man grew even angrier.

"I ain't yer Uncle!" Jesse interrupted. "Don't even try lyin' to me. Do you understand me, J.D.?"

Hogg gulped as he nodded and replied, "I understand you, Jesse. I won't try to lie. I want you to know, that this time, none of it was my fault."

Daisy asked, "Exactly what ain't yer fault, Boss? Talk faster."

"All right, all right, I believe you all remember them criminals Perry and Burke we put away some months back?" Boss continued quickly.

"Yeah, we know they're the ones who've taken Bo," Luke responded coldly. "Enos told us about the call they made to you this morning and heard one of their names. What did they want with you?"

J.D. swallowed nervously, then answered, "First off, they called to tell me that they wanted me to hand them over the money they would've gotten had we succeeded in the train robbery, not to mention another couple of million just for vengeance, fer sending 'em to the slammer. Then, they told me that they goin' to hurt one of you Dukes if I didn't give them the money. They said that they had their sights on you since this morning. In order to call me while lookin' at you, they must have radioed Mable and had her patch their CB into the telephone lines."

Luke shook his head and replied, "How they contacted you ain't what matters. What matters is that they have Bo and if you don't get 'em that money they want…"

"Now look here, if you all think I'm goin' to hand over four million of my hard earned money…!" Boss tried to say until he was cut off again.

"If you don't give them what they want, they're going to kill Bo!" Luke said with more anger than Boss, or even his family had ever seen in him, as the oldest Duke cousin grabbed Hogg by his coat collar and roughly shoved him backward against the wall behind him. "This time we ain't playin' with you! Bo's life is at stake!"

Uncle Jesse stepped forward and gently pulled his nephew off of the crooked fat man and turned him around to look him in the eye as he spoke softly saying, "Take it easy, boy. Don't you worry so much about Bo. I mean, we all are plenty worried about 'im, but strangling J.D. isn't going to help him any and might even land you in jail. We're going to get Bo back, if it's the last thing we do, but we're going to have to do it another way. I doubt even J.D. has four million dollars to give up."

Hogg nodded as he pointed his finger at Jesse and answered, "Uncle Jesse's right. I ain't got…"

"I told you, I ain't yer uncle!" Jesse shouted back. "Now, we just need to come up with another plan, but first of all, we need to find where them men are holding Bo."

"Any suggestions on how we do that?" Cooter asked as the mechanic rubbed his head in confusion. "We don't even know where to begin."

Boss Hogg quickly stated, "They wanted my money tomorrow by noon and they said that they was goin' to send somebody here to collect it for 'em."

Jesse replied, "So, they do have others in on this kidnapping with them. That's jist great. Come on, let's git on home and we can try to come up with some kind of plan, hopefully one that involves us finding Bo, before them criminals coming back here to collect."

On their way back home to the farm, Daisy chose to ride with Uncle Jesse in his pickup, while Luke drove the General Lee with Cooter in the passenger's seat so he would be able to drop their mechanic friend back off at his garage before heading home behind his family. Cooter told Luke to let him know whatever it was they would need him to do for when they left to rescue Bo.

Before Luke could make it back, he was suddenly cut off by a car that was lying in wait for him to come around the corner, the same corner Bo was taken from, the log having already been removed from the road, as Jesse had called some people to come out and have it taken away.

"Hey, what's the meaning of…?" Luke called out as he started to climb out the window, but cut himself off when he saw who it was that was waiting for him; Mr. Burke. "You!"

"That's right me," the criminal responded with a big grin on his face. "I thought I'd come all the way down here to have a little chat with the one of you I ain't taken captive yet. I'm sure glad it's you here and not that other cousin of yers, seeing as yer the one with the brain, so we've been told."

Luke started toward the man until Burke pulled a gun on him, causing Luke to back up slowly, then Luke asked coldly, "Where's Bo? What have you done to him?"

Burke answered coolly, "All in due time. I assure you, your cousin's just fine, for now, but he won't be for long unless you agree to rob Boss Hogg fer me and Mr. Perry."

"Rob him?" Luke asked in shock. "You've got to be crazy if you think I'm goin' to rob Boss or anyone for the likes of you."

"You will if you want yer cousin to remain alive past noon tomorrow?" the criminal replied smugly. "We want four million dollars and anymore that you might be able to squeeze out of that fat little hog. Get anyone else you want to help you pull this off, but if you fail to do so, Bo Duke is a dead man."

Luke glared at the man as he responded, "I want to talk to 'im. I want to see or hear for myself that he's still alright. Otherwise, you can forget it."

Burke smiled, then reached into his own car, pulled out the CB radio, and he answered, "I thought you might say that."

"Mr. Perry, can you hear me all right?" his partner continued as he called into the mic. "I've got that Duke boy's cousin here with me. Put 'im on."

" _You've got it, Mr. Burke,_ " Perry replied on the other end.

Luke quickly took the radio from the criminal, then asked with fear in his voice, "Bo, can you hear me? Come on, Bo. Talk to me."

Bo finally came over the CB as he responded, " _Yeah, I hear you, Luke. I'm alright._ "

"Thank God," Luke answered, sounding mighty relieved to hear Bo's voice. "You jist hang in there, Bo. We're goin' to git you back, I promise. Are you hurt at all?"

" _My pride's hurt more than anything else,_ " the youngest Duke boy replied despondently. " _I'm real sorry, Luke. I never should have let them crooks catch me._ "

His cousin bowed his head sadly and then stared at Mr. Burke as he responded, "Don't you worry about that. It wasn't yer fault. We're going to…"

Burke swiftly grabbed the radio away from Luke and tossed it back into his vehicle, then said, "That's enough! Now, you know yer cousin's okay. Do we have a deal, or are Perry and I going to be burying that boy?"

"We have a deal, so long as you don't hurt Bo any more than you already have," Luke answered angrily. "How exactly do you want to do this?"

"Don't you worry about anything except getting us that money," Mr. Burke replied when all of a sudden he struck Luke hard with his gun, knocking him down to the ground unconscious, leaving behind a large gash across his forehead. "That's jist so that you don't get the idea to try to follow me back to yer cousin."

It was a nasty thing to do to someone, but then again, both Burke and Perry were rotten to the core and they didn't care who they hurt to get what they wanted. The criminal quickly got back into his car, then sped off to get back to his partner, leaving Luke out cold in the middle of the road.


	8. Chapter 8

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Eight

"Thank goodness, it looks like he's finally comin' around," Luke heard his Uncle Jesse say as he slowly came to, then worked to focus on his surroundings, mainly on the people around him. "How you feelin', boy?"

"Like I got hit in the head by a rock the size of a bowling ball," Luke answered as he reached up to touch his forehead where it hurt the most only to wince, then quickly pulled his hand away again.

Daisy chuckled, though her heart wasn't really in it, as she responded, "You ain't that far off, sugar. Good ole Emery here found you lying out cold on the ground in front of the General with a large gash across yer forehead, then carefully brought you back here to our farm and we called Doc Petticord to come over to check you out. You had us mighty scared that you had gotten yourself badly hurt too."

Luke suddenly remembered what happened as he sat up, faster than he should have as his head spun, and he cried out, "One of the guys who have Bo…!"

"Is he the one who did this to you?" Jesse asked worryingly.

"Yeah, it was Burke," the oldest Duke cousin replied as he finally managed to sit all the way up against the back wall behind his bed. "He allowed me to talk to Bo, who's still being guarded by Perry. He sounded alright for now, but worried."

Dr. Petticord interrupted their conversation as he handed Luke a pack of ice to put over the his aching head and said, "I think yer goin' to be okay, son, but I suggest you don't go runnin' around these here parts like you boys normally do for at least a couple of days."

Luke looked at the doctor, then slowly began to rise from off the bed as he answered, "I'd like to follow yer orders Doc, but we can't wait that long. Bo needs us now."

"What exactly did this Burke fella say to you?" Uncle Jesse asked as he helped Luke to stand. "Why'd he risk coming out into the open to talk to ya?"

"He wants me, and anyone else I can get to help out, to rob Boss," Luke responded in frustration. "He knows as well as we do that Boss won't hand over all that money to rescue one of us Dukes, at least not without some kind of double cross. If we refuse, they'll kill Bo."

Daisy shook her head fearfully as she asked, "But how are we supposed to do that? We can't steal four million dollars, even if it is Boss Hogg's money. Besides, he probably don't even have that kind of money."

Jesse added, "And even he does, it ain't just the money J.D. acquired illegally that'd be at play here. We'd be stealing what belongs to Lulu too. We jist can't do that."

"Maybe we don't have to after all," Luke stated as he suddenly got an idea. "That is if we can get Boss to actually cooperate with us for once."

"Oh, he'll cooperate all right," Jesse replied smugly. "After all, it is his fault this whole mess started to begin with. What you got cookin', Luke?"

Luke smiled as he answered, "How many counterfeiters to you suppose Boss knows here in Hazzard, or in some other county? You see, if we were to get him to give, say a thousand dollars worth of real money, then use the counterfeit bills to use as the rest of the money, which will be hidden beneath the rest. It's risky, but hopefully it will give us a chance to get Bo back, then we can worry about taking Perry and Burke down for good."

Emery Potter spoke up saying nervously, "That sure does sound risky, but you all know what yer doing."

"Thank you again, Emery," Luke said as he reached out to shake the older man's hand. "You know, for finding me and getting me back here to my family."

"You're welcome," the county's chief teller and registrar responded sincerely. "I'm glad I found you. I was on my way over to check on ya all after you called me about Bo, to make sure everything was okay. After all, he was on his way to see me when he was taken."

Luke continued, "It's much appreciated. Now, we really ought to get back to town to find Boss again, to convince him to get done all that needs to git done by noon tomorrow. Besides, I'm not sure how long it takes to make counterfeit bills."

Uncle Jesse replied, "Probably longer than we've got. Let's git goin'!"

Back in town at the jailhouse…

Boss Hogg drove back to meet up with Rosco and Enos, and as the little man was forced to come clean with the Duke clan, he also finally decided to explain to his sheriff and deputy what had happened as well, hoping that Rosco's big mouth would help to give him an idea as to how he could turn this situation into a money making scheme for him. If Rosco was good for anything, it was for giving Boss ideas, even if he did help to ruin them afterward.

"But Boss, if Bo really is in real trouble, which I think he is, then we should do whatever it takes to help the rest of the Dukes to get him back, not try to make money from this tragedy," Enos said worryingly, as he really did care about the Dukes a lot, especially Daisy.

"Enos, this ain't no tragedy," Rosco answered grumpily. "It ain't like Bo is dead or anything."

Enos shrugged as he wrung the rim of his hat in his hands and responded, "Yeah, but he might be hurt and he could die if we don't…"

J.D. interrupted, "Enough, you two numbskulls! I want you both to hush. I'm thinkin'."

"I'm afraid that that thinkin' of yers is going to have to wait, J.D." Jesse replied as he and the rest of the Dukes came bargaining in again like they had before down at the Boars Nest. "We're here to discuss a plan with you and I'm afraid we ain't asking fer yer help this time, seeing as you wouldn't help us willingly without some kind of angle in it for you."

"We're going to have to insist," Luke added. "How fast can you get one of your counterfeiting operations up and running, to make the four million these criminals are asking for?"

Boss cried out, "What? I mean, I don't know what yer talking about Duke. We ain't got no counterfeiting operations goin'."

Luke slammed his hands down on the fat man's desk as he answered, "We ain't got time for this! Bo is going to die if we can't come up with that money! Can you do it?"

"All right, yes I can," Boss Hogg finally responded in agreement. "Actually, that ain't a half bad idea, so long as I don't have to shuffle out money from my own pocket."

"I'm afraid that ain't exactly true," Uncle Jesse replied smugly. "We need you to put up enough to be able to cover up what's fake, so that these criminals won't be able to see that they've been had until we can get Bo back. We figured that because it's yer fault for these men coming into Hazzard in the first place, that you owe us. If anything does happen to Bo, we are going to make sure yer one of the men that end up in prison, along with Burke and Perry. And don't you think we won't do it. Do you understand what we're telling you, Boss?"

Boss nodded nervously as Rosco asked, "And uh… what about me? Am I going to go away too."

Daisy stated coldly, "You too, Rosco. After all, you're in on all of Boss' schemes too."


	9. Chapter 9

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Nine

As Boss Hogg was riding in the sheriff's car beside Rosco, Luke directly behind them with Cooter, whom they had picked up on the way out of town, in the General Lee, and Uncle Jesse and Daisy right behind them in Jesse's truck, while Enos remained behind to guard town, Rosco spoke up again saying, "I never thought I'd see the day when you and me would be purposefully leading them Dukes and Cooter right to one of our corrupt operations."

The county commissioner huffed and puffed on the lit cigar sticking out of his mouth, his eye brows furrowed downward, then grumbled, "I never thought I would either, but this time we really stepped in it."

"Uh… stepped in what?" the sheriff asked in confusion.

"Stepped in it, you know what!" Boss shouted angrily. "Manure, you dipstick!"

Rosco still didn't get it as he replied, "Boss, they're ain't any manure around here… Ooh, I get it, I get it!"

J.D. nodded, then stated, "Good. Now, did you make the call to our men working this spot to git them machines started up?"

"Of course I did," Sheriff Coltrane answered. "You ordered me to, so I did it."

"You better have, you numbskull," Boss responded coolly. "We're just about there. Call over the CB and them to open up the gates."

As soon as they recognized where they were headed, Luke said, "Well I'll be, another one of Boss' operations is here at the old Deerhead Mill."

Cooter nodded and replied, "He's got them shoddy operations of theirs all over Hazzard County. How does he do it?"

"Yer guess is as good as mine," Luke answered as he pulled off after entering through the mills gates. "I really hope this is a good idea. If it fails…"

"Don't you worry none, Lukas," Cooter responded quickly before his oldest friend could finish his train of thought. "This plan will work because you came up with it and your plans always work. Bo's goin' to be just fine."

Luke nodded, though less convinced as he replied, "I hope your right."

Five hours into Luke's plan…

Everybody was hard at work, trying to make as much counterfeit money within the limited time they had to do so. It was slow going and the more time that passed, the more agitated the Dukes were growing, mainly Luke. At one point in the middle of the night, Luke stopped what he was doing and stepped outside of the mill to get some fresh air. Jesse could tell he was bothered and so he also stopped his work and followed after his nephew in hope to try to help him in any small way that he could.

He knew what Luke was thinking, but asked anyway, "What's on your mind, boy?"

"All of this work is nothing, but a waste of time," Luke answered dejectedly without turning to face his uncle. "Why did I think this was a good idea?"

"Now you listen to me, Luke Duke," Jesse responded solemnly. "This idea of yours is a good idea and you know it. Yer just worrying yourself down a rabbit hole and is having trouble picking yourself up. You're afraid for Bo, as are Daisy and me, but the two of you are as close as brothers and have been together most of yer lives, except for when you was off fighting in the Marines. And yer blaming yourself because them criminals aren't here to blame or kick the stuffin' out of."

Luke finally turned around as he cried out, "Hell, why shouldn't I blame myself, Uncle Jesse? It's my job to look after 'im and I failed."

The family patriarch placed his hands down firmly on Luke's shoulders and replied, "You two both look after each other and that's exactly what yer doing, right now. Bo wouldn't want you blaming yourself any more than I do and you know that by holding all this guilt in is preventing us right now from working."

"But Uncle Jesse, if he dies…" Luke tried to say again until he cut himself off, not being able to finish his train of thought.

"He ain't gonna," Jesse responded confidently as he raised his hands to just under Luke's chin, holding his head high. "Bo's resilient and more bullheaded than an angry bull fighting against another angry bull. He will get out of this, thanks to you."

Luke smiled and replied, "Thank you, Uncle Jesse."

Their guardian nodded and answered, "Yer welcome. Now, let's git back to work. Man oh man oh man, it sure is a gorgeous night. It's too bad so much bad can happen on such a night when all the stars are perfectly visible."

"Don't I know it," Luke responded, then together he and Jesse went back to work.

Back at the hidden distillery…

Earlier, while Burke was still out facing the older Duke cousin, Perry had remained behind to keep watch over his and Burke's prisoner, who hadn't given them a lick of trouble, due to him still being tied up and all, though the young Duke refused to quit trying no matter how hopeless it seemed. The Dukes were never known to be quitters. Finally, Bo had managed to loosen the bindings just enough to slip his hands free, but before he was able to strike out against his captor, a knock came to the door and halted his attempt.

"Who is it?" Perry called out cautiously, slowly approaching the door with his gun in hand.

All of a sudden, the door crashed in, knocking Perry back a few steps and his gun from his hand, but before the criminal could pick it up again, a shot fired up in the air, stopping Perry cold as he stared up at the man now holding a larger gun on him to keep him back. While Perry glared angrily at the man, who he realized was about to double cross him and his partner after having helped them to escape prison, Bo stared fearfully at the man, quickly recognizing him to be another one of the Duke's enemies, though a much more dangerous convict than the two train robbers; Lee Benson, the former Marine, who had once served under Luke's command, only to come to Hazzard to try to get revenge on Luke for putting him away.


	10. Chapter 10

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Ten

"Benson, what are you doin' here?" Mr. Perry asked in confusion as he stood up all the way and stared between the man before him and the gun in the convict's hand aimed at his chest. "We thought you were on yer way to…"

"I never did say where I was headed, and I never told you my intentions for when we broke out," Lee responded as he clicked back the gun's hammer and changed the direction of the weapon, aiming it down at the criminals' captive. "I only needed you and your partner long enough to get out. I have business here in Hazzard and after hearing you and Mr. Burke talk about how much you hated these Dukes for putting you away, I knew you would help me get what I want. Hello again, Bo Duke is it?"

Bo scooted back against the post in the middle of the room as far back as he could, not wanting to give away that he was free, as it wouldn't do him much good if he got himself killed when trying to escape, then he glared at the convict towering over him in order to hide his dread as he replied, "Benson, you sure picked a heck of a time to come back here. If you think yer goin' to get your retribution on Luke, you've got another thing comin' to you!"

The newcomer smiled coldly and then answered, "On the contrary, though my plan is coming out a bit different than I imagined, I believe that these changes are much better for me. I want to thank you, Perry, for doing the hard work for me."

"Now wait a minute, this Duke is our prisoner and we've got four million dollars riding on us keeping him hostage until noon tomorrow," the train robber shouted while he attempted to go for his gun down on the ground, only for Benson to turn his own on the other criminal once again, which allowed for Bo the only chance he saw to break free, as he swiftly kicked Lee Benson in his knees to knock him back into Perry, then grabbed for the already discarded gun, even if it did violate his probation, in hope of using it only long enough to escape. "Hold it, country boy!"

"How about you hold it," Bo called out as he carefully kept the weapon aimed and his eyes on the men standing over him while reaching down with one hand to untie the ropes still binding his feet together. "I may be a young country boy, but I know how to shoot if it's necessary and I say this here time is necessary."

Lee didn't seem worried at all, as he still had his own gun aimed down on the Duke, who slowly stood from the ground, a Duke and two criminals facing off, then Benson smiled smugly as he responded, "That may be true, but that there weapon in yer hand won't do you much good, seeing as you don't have the stomach to kill one of us."

Bo really didn't, though he knew how to use a gun as well as he could shoot his bow. He just never had to kill anyone before as he and Luke were always foiling the criminals they ever came across using Luke's brilliant tricks and other items for weapons. There was also the fact that if he did shoot the men, he would be locked away for the rest of his life, even if it was done in self-defense. Boss Hogg would see to that. The youngest member of the Duke clan kept the gun raised, but the second that Lee saw him falter, was the second that the convict needed as he without hesitation fired a bullet from his own gun, the round striking Bo high in the upper part of his thigh, which caused him to cry out as he collapsed back to the ground. Benson rushed forward and knocked the weapon from his hand, then kicked Bo in the face and again in the stomach.

Bo didn't fall unconscious, but he was down and just struggling to breathe through his pain as Lee smiled smugly, then he turned both of the guns on Perry and ordered the thief, "If you want to live, Mr. Perry, I suggest you do as I say and wrap a tourniquet around this boy's leg to keep him from bleeding out on me. I'm not through with using him against Luke Duke yet. Otherwise, I won't hesitate to kill you."

"Mr. Perry!" Burke shouted as he suddenly charged into the old shack after hearing the gunshot upon returning from confronting Luke, only to come face to face with one of Benson's guns, finding the other still trained down on his partner while he was wrapping a rag as well as his belt around the wound in their prisoner's leg. "Mr. Benson, what are you doing here?"

"You are goin' to have to ask your partner that after me and this Duke take off, but first, I'm going to need you both to help him into the backseat of the car I drove here in," the crueler man replied, motioning the men to move, Burke and Perry obeying the orders without a fight, while Bo couldn't help, but allow his captors to drag him off. "I really do appreciate all your help. It was certainly a pleasure."

When he finally regained enough strength to do so, Bo slowly rose up off of the lower part of the seat, leaned back against the side of the vehicle, then struggled to speak saying confidently, "Luke will take… take you… down again, just like… he did before."

Benson looked back at Bo through his rearview mirror as he answered, "Yeah, well last time your cousin had the advantage. He had you and the rest of yer family. But so long as I have you, Luke will never strike out against me, which will allow me the opportunity to kill him once and for all."

"If you don't figure… out a way to git this… bullet out… of my leg… you won't have me either," Bo responded wearily as he could feel himself losing conscious despite how much he fought against it.

"Don't you worry about that," Lee replied coldly. "I'll get you to someone who can help, but if you try anything stupid, it won't be you that I kill, but the good doctor of this fair town. You won't go risking the life of an innocent now, would you?"

Bo closed his eyes as a bump in the road caused his leg to flare in pain, then opened them again and looked upward as he was trying to pray, then he answered, "No sir."

Lee Benson smiled and stated, "It's because of your inability to only think about yourself for once that I'm gonna beat you both this time around."


	11. Chapter 11

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Eleven

After Lee Benson left with Bo, both Burke and Perry rushed out of the distillery in order to go after them, only to find that the convict who double crossed them had shot out the tires to their vehicle before taking off in a hurry. Their plan to trade the youngest Duke cousin in exchange for the money they ransomed him for was finished, even if they could manage to fix the tires well enough to get them to where they could steal another one.

Burke slammed his foot against the rear left side tire on their car, then cried out angrily, "I told you we never should have trusted him, Perry! Now, because we did, we lost our leverage over them Dukes. What are we supposed to do now?"

While his partner carried on, Mr. Perry thought and then came up with another idea, as he answered, "We're just going to have to catch ourselves another hostage, namely Boss Hogg. He isn't worth as much to them Dukes, or most of Hazzard, but I have a feeling that them folk, or least that wife of his and the Dukes, will pay two million for his safe return. Besides, it's because of Hogg that we went to prison in the first place."

"We were supposed to get four million," Burke replied coldly. "And the rest of the Dukes will be far more concerned with getting Bo back, not worried about that pig. What makes you so sure that kidnapping Hogg will work?"

"I'm not so sure, but we don't have a choice," Perry responded. "Are you with me, or is it about time that we part ways, Mr. Burke?"

The man didn't seem to like the idea, but he nodded in agreement and answered, "I want that money, even if it is two million short. And if Hogg dies, then that'd be even better."

Mr. Perry smiled and then replied, "Good. Now, it's getting late, too late to go out to catch that fat man now. We'll head over there tomorrow, shortly before we're supposed to meet up with the Duke. Until then, we stick to our original plan, as if we still are holding Bo Duke hostage, especially when we make the call tomorrow when we discuss the meeting place. We'll get that money and maybe even a little retribution after all."

Down at the old mill…

The Dukes, Cooter, Rosco, and the rest of Boss Hogg's men working the counterfeit ring worked all through the night and finally finished making enough fake money to fool the hostage takers just about ten o'clock the next morning. Boss had left well before midnight to go home to sleep through the night. As everyone knew, the greedy little man didn't do much in the way of menial labor, only delved it out to others and supervised it for so long, even if his operation was being run by none other than the Duke clan themselves.

"We got it done," Luke stated as he let out a sigh of relief. "And it looks pretty darn good. Good job, you all, and thank you."

"Yeah, thank you all so much," Daisy added quickly as Uncle Jesse nodded his thanks. "If it weren't for you… well who knows what's gonna happen now, but we've got a good chance at rescuing Bo."

Jesse finally responded, "We Dukes owe you all a debt of gratitude and you can guarantee that we'll never forget it."

Luke worked alongside Daisy as the two of them finished stuffing Boss' suitcase with the bills, leaving room for the real money that they were about to leave to collect from Boss at the Boars Nest just before their meet up with their cousin's kidnappers, not knowing yet that Bo had been taken by an even crueler and more dangerous convict. Nor did anyone have a suspicion that Bo wasn't the only one in trouble.

Luke spoke again saying, "Let's git over to the Boars Nest. It's almost noon and I'd like to be there before Burke and Perry get there with Bo, in case them two try to cross us."


	12. Chapter 12

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Twelve

Benson drove carefully through the dirt roads, so as to avoid running into the county's law enforcement that he knew hid out, thanks to the last time he had come to Hazzard. Meanwhile, Bo had fallen unconscious again. The convict didn't care about how bad he had hurt the young man, but he knew that if his hostage died before getting Luke out into the open, then he wouldn't have leverage over his former commander, the leverage that would make it so that he'd be able to kill Bo right in front of him before killing his enemy himself.

When Bo slowly came to, he found himself lying on top of a makeshift bed in some unknown place, with old Doc Petticord leaning over him, taking care of his leg. The man didn't seem worried or nervous in any way, which made Bo realize that Benson must have told him some kind of story that didn't make him look like the criminal that he was. Unfortunately, that wasn't too hard, as the Doc wasn't the all that wise anymore in his old age. The youngest Duke looked as if he was about to say something until he looked over toward Benson, who was standing casually toward the back of the old shack, his hand resting on top of the butt of his gun, so long as the old man had his back to him.

"Well, it's about time you woke up, boy," Doc Petticord said as he gently pushed Bo back down when he tried to sit up a bit further. "You gone and got yerself into a right little pickle, didn't you?"

"Yes sir, it looks like I did," Bo replied nervously. "Uh… you wouldn't happen to be almost done, with patching me up I mean?"

The doctor smiled as he responded, "As a matter of fact, I am jist about finished. Say, where's that cousin of yers? Yer old friend here told me that yous two had yerselves another one of them scuffles you get into every once in a blue moon. It looks like this time whomever you were fighting ended it with that there projectile I pulled out from yer leg."

Bo nodded, then Lee answered for him, "As I said, I assured Luke that I would call you over here to take care of his cousin while he went after the two men that hurt him. You see, I was right here with them fighting them men when Bo was hit."

"That sure was mighty kind of you, sonny," the doc replied as he finished tying off the last bandage. "Oh and Bo, I would be careful with them ribs of yers. You gone and bruised a couple. I suggest you take some aspirin for that fever of yers before it gets any worse, then be sure to allow old Jesse to give you some of that medicinal remedy of his so that you can git some rest. You'll be soar for a few days and I suggest you keep off that leg too."

"I'll do that, Doc, and thank you," Bo responded as he sat up slowly, then watched as the old man picked up his things and left the building they were holed up in, then he turned his head to look over at his kidnapper when they were alone again. "I know that this don't mean much to you, but I sure am grateful you didn't do nothin' to hurt him."

Benson stated coolly, "You Dukes are the only ones I aim to kill here today."

Bo ignored him as he looked around, then spoke up again asking, "Where are we now?"

"If you don't know, then I'll go ahead and keep it that way," Lee answered as he pulled out a pair of cuffs, attached one end to his wrist and the other end to one of the metal bars beneath the bed Bo was lying on. "You're going to be just fine, at least until Luke arrives."

"I told you, he ain't going to give you the satisfaction yer lookin' for," Bo replied angrily. "Luke's going to whip your hide just like he did before. What makes you think that holding me makes this time any different? It's not like you didn't try holdin' us all hostage before and we still beat you."

Lee slowly walked over to stand beside Bo, grabbed him by his neck and squeezed tightly until he stopped, just before the younger man passed out, then he responded, "Maybe so, but I made the mistake of taking the two of you together. You're all alone, kid. I suggest you spend the next hour fighting to keep yourself awake in order to look back at your life for any regrets, because soon enough, you're going to be resting peacefully six feet underground."

Bo rubbed his throat as he struggled to answer, "The only… only thing I regret… is having to lie here list… listening to you, you good for nothing snake."

"You just don't know when to keep your mouth shut," Benson replied coldly as he struck Bo hard across the left side of his face again, causing the younger man to place the back of his free hand over his cheek in pain while he bit his tongue to keep himself from crying out or saying something else he'd regret, then Lee continued to beat him repeatedly, in his chest, stomach, and across his legs while Bo struggled to keep himself from crying out. "I just have to keep you breathing, boy. Then, I'll drop your broken body at your cousin's feet just before I thrust my knife deep into his chest so that the two of you can die together."

"You can just go to Hell!" Bo shouted angrily in between his captor's beatings.

Back in town…

Enos was sitting outside on a park bench as he was feeding the birds some bread crumbs he packed with him that morning while he was overlooking the comings and goings around him, when he noticed Dr. Petticord drive through and stop outside of the drug store, probably to refill whatever medicines he was running low on. However, something in his mind made Enos feel that something seemed strange about this man coming into town this morning, as Doc Petticord always made his runs into town on Sundays, later in the evenings.

So, the deputy headed over to talk with him as he spoke up saying, "Good morning, Dr. Petticord! And how are you doing today?"

The old man looked at the deputy closely as he responded, "Oh, howdy Enos! What are you doing here?"

"I came over to see you," Enos answered. "It's a bit early for you to come into town for more supplies, a few days early. Did you have some kind of medical emergency that cleaned you out good?"

"Yeah, I'll say, but it wasn't no emergency, just some fist fight gone wrong," the old man replied casually. "Them Duke boys really know how to git themselves into trouble."

That really got Enos' attention as he quickly asked, "Wait a minute, what do you mean by the Duke boys? Did you really see 'em?"

Doc Petticord nodded, then shook his head as if confused, and finally responded, "I only saw one of 'em. Bo Duke gone and got 'imself shot in the leg. He cleaned me out real good. I didn't see Luke though. The young man was with some friend of theirs. Didn't catch his name, or maybe I did, but I don't rightly remember. Now, if you'll excuse me, Enos. I need to git back to…"

"Hold on, where did you go, to patch Bo up?" Enos asked quickly, as he realized that whoever the man was with him, must have been one of the men who kidnapped him.

"Well, I don't rightly remember, not really," the doctor answered as he thought for a moment, while scratching his head. "I mean, it was some old little shack way out in the middle of nowhere. I mean, that friend of his had to come out an meet me somewhere out on them roads so I could follow him back to that young whippersnapper. But if I recall, there was a bunch of broken down clunker cars around it. Good day, Enos!"

The old man walked away as Enos muttered under his breath, "Possums on a gum bush, I sure hope the rest of the Dukes know where that might… Gee, I got to call Luke."

When the deputy couldn't get a hold of Luke or any of the rest of the Duke's, he decided to call Cletus for his help, as he knew that Boss Hogg and Rosco were both out on business, or so he thought, then he called out over the CB, "Cletus, this is Enos. Are you out there somewhere, come back?"

" _I'm right here, Enos,_ " the second deputy replied after a minute. " _It sure is quiet without having to come out to chase the Duke boys. Did you need me for somethin'?_ "

"I think I might," Enos responded nervously. "Listen, I need you to meet me here in town and then we're going out to try to search the outskirts of Hazzard for someplace where a bunch of clunker cars might have been dropped off and left. Doc Petticord might have seen Bo this morning, with whoever has 'im. Meet me here, right away."

Meanwhile…

Boss Hogg was eating his second breakfast inside his office in the back room of the Boars Nest while he waited for the Dukes to come barging in to pick up his money he told them he'd give them, thanks to Jesse Duke's power of persuasion. Boss was seething, knowing that he was about to give up a single cent of his own money, especially for the safe return of a Duke, but it certainly didn't prevent him from eating like usual. The little man just struggled to come up with an idea that would allow him to keep his money and to double cross the Dukes, but not risk getting Bo killed. He didn't like the Duke boys, but he never wanted to see them come to any harm.

However, it wasn't the Dukes or his worthless sheriff and deputies that suddenly broke inside, but the two double crossing crooks he hired for one of his crooked schemes; Perry and Burke, both with their guns aimed directly at him. Boss screamed as he quickly raised his hands high over his head and slowly inched his way backward until one of them fired a shot into the air to get him to quit moving.

Boss cried out, "What the devil are you two doing here? I thought... but I thought you were busy, with that uh… Duke boy? Why…?"

Perry finally interrupted, "Shut up, Hogg. You're going to come with us for a little ride."

"What?" Boss asked as he looked at them in confusion. "I don't understand, why do you need me if you have Bo, unless of course… why of course! He escaped from you again. Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! Now you know how I feel, after having all of them Dukes escape from me and my men over and over again. They're slipperier than a…"

"We said shut your mouth!" Burke shouted again. "That kid didn't escape. It appears we're not the only ones who have it in for them Dukes. So now, we're going to take you instead and if you want to live, you'd better pray that this town is willing to pay the same amount of money for you, as they would have for the kid."

Boss tried to object as he answered, "Oh no, please! Four million is an awful lot of money. We worked hard all night long to make… I mean, to collect as much as we could, but you see, we ended up just a bit short."

Perry looked at the fat man strangely as he asked, "What did you mean by make, Hogg? Were you and them Dukes planning on scamming us with counterfeit money?"

"I would never do that to you two fellas," J.D. replied nervously, it being obvious that he was lying. "You see, it was never my idea to betray you, but the Dukes made me do it. I liked you, I really did."

"Save it!" Perry responded coolly. "Be sure to leave the ransom note behind, Burke. And Hogg, they better give us at least the two million you owe us from the botched train robbery, and it better be real because if it ain't, then yer as good as dead."

Boss started to object again, dragging his feet as the two men tried to lead him out to their car, when all of a sudden the General Lee came charging up toward them, forcing the two men and Boss to quickly throw themselves over the car in order to avoid being hit, though the Duke driving the orange Charger had no intention of actually doing more than scare them. The two convicts immediately began to fire toward the car as both Luke and Cooter ducked to avoid being hit, then Luke saw an opening to get out and jump onto Burke, while Cooter swiftly took the wheel. Unfortunately, Perry was also able to grab hold of Boss as he dragged the fat man into his car and swiftly took off, just as Rosco, Jesse, and Daisy all pulled in, in time to see Luke fighting one of the criminals while the other sped away with his hostage.

Rosco screamed out at his brother in law's kidnapper, "Freeze! Ooh… ooh, we've got to go after him. I'm gone, I'm going after the Boss!"

Torn between wanting to help her cousin or going after Rosco and Boss Hogg, knowing that Rosco would most likely end up in a tree or in one of the county's many ponds somewhere, she quickly cried out, "Luke! Uncle Jesse, what should we do?"

"Let's git after Rosco," Jesse answered as Daisy sat back down when they left after the others. "Don't you worry, Luke can handle that one and besides, Cooter's with 'im. They'll be fine."

"Oh, I hope that Luke can get Burke to tell him where Bo is," she said fearfully as they continued driving. "I'm so worried about him, Uncle Jesse!"

Jesse nodded and replied sadly, "So am I, Daisy. So am I."

As Burke and Luke continued thrashing around, both fighting to knock down the other, Cooter rushed over to get in the middle of it to help Luke out and when the two friends had finally succeeded in taking him down, Luke grabbed the man roughly by his jacket and shoved him back against the General Lee as he shouted, "Where's Bo? Where is he?"

"Yer too late, we ain't got 'im no more!" the convict responded coldly as he tried to push the man off of him.

"What do you mean you don't have him?" Luke cried angrily as he held on. "Tell me where he is, now!"

Mr. Burke answered coldly, "Some other convict's got him. The same guy who helped us break out of prison. He busted in last night and took yer cousin with him. Said something about him having some business here. The kid mentioned something about him wanting to get revenge on you, I think. After he shot 'im, this guy stole both of our guns and forced us to put yer cousin into his car, then he took off with him."

Cooter looked worryingly at Luke then they looked back at Burke as the mechanic asked, "Who shot who? Do you mean…?"

"Yeah, that bastard shot yer cousin, though the wound didn't seem that bad," the convict replied as Luke's eyes closed and allowed his head to drop to his chest as he screamed out in anger. "Benson sure is one black hearted son of a…"

"Benson…?" Luke asked suddenly as he glared at the man before him. "Lee Benson, you mean? He's the criminal who helped you escape?"

Cooter started to ask, "Ain't that the guy who…?"

Luke shoved Burke hard to the ground, then threw one final punch hard enough to knock the man out cold, and finally replied in frustration, "Yeah, the same man who kidnapped me and the rest of my family six months ago. He was ready to kill us back then. God knows how much more he hates me now. If Bo's already been hurt… Come on, we've got to git after the others, to help them get Boss back. Help me shove this guy in the trunk. Lee's going to get in touch with me sometime soon in order to draw me out to meet him, because he knows that I'll come for Bo. For now, Bo's still alive and he'll keep him that way until I get there."

"I sure hope yer right," Cooter responded nervously as he finished helping Luke do as he asked. "The question is, how long will Bo really be able to hold on for? It sounds like he hurt pretty bad, if he's already been shot at least once."

"Bo will hold on for as long as he has to," Luke answered with confidence, though inside he wasn't sure if he actually believed it himself. "He's a Duke and he knows that I'll come for him. By the way, don't go telling Uncle Jesse or Daisy about Bo already being hurt. I don't want to worry them anymore than I have to right now. Let's fly."


	13. Chapter 13

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Thirteen

"Dang it!" Luke cried angrily as he struck his hand hard down on the General's steering wheel while they were speeding off trying to catch up with everyone else chasing after the criminal who had gotten away with Boss Hogg. "How could I have let this happen, again? Benson nearly killed Bi and me the last time and I just figured prison was good enough to hold him."

"I guess Chickasaw County Prison just ain't what it's supposed to be," Cooter responded coyly. "Look, there is no way you could have known that this Benson fella would have broken out a second time. If you want to blame someone, blame Sheriff Little the next time you see 'im. He's the one supposed to be making sure things like this don't happen."

Luke nodded as he kept his eyes ahead, then answered, "There's plenty of blame to go around, just like I said earlier and most of it starts with me, but I'll worry about that later. I just want to help them get Boss back and then…"

All of a sudden, Enos' voice came across the CB as he called out, " _Luke, are you out there? Please Luke, if you're there, I've got something real important to tell you. It's about Bo._ "

"I'm here, Enos," Luke replied as he quickly grabbed the mic. "What about Bo?"

" _Thank goodness, uh… look, I ran into Doc Petticord out in town earlier, who mentioned that he had just come back from treating a gunshot wound Bo had received in some fight you two boys picked,_ " the deputy responded nervously.

Luke looked over at Cooter sitting beside him, then stated excitedly, "Enos, that's great! I mean… where did Doc say he saw him?"

Enos came back as he continued, " _That's what's not so great, Luke. He doesn't really remember. All he knew was that it was someplace in the middle of nowhere, where there are a bunch of old clunker cars lying around. Cletus and I are out searching all around Hazzard for this place, but… we just ain't sure where it could be. I was hoping you would._ "

"I think I might," Luke answered as he suddenly slammed on his brakes and made a fast U-turn in order to change directions. "I need you and Cletus to meet me at the old junk yard that has those stacks of old, broken down cars left behind. And Enos, thank you. You've done real good."

" _We'll be there,_ " he replied quickly then signed off.

Luke sped faster than he ever really had as he spoke to Cooter again saying, "I'm pretty certain that Uncle Jesse, Daisy, and Rosco can rescue Boss. There's only one criminal left. Uncle Jesse, Daisy, did you hear that?"

Daisy called back through the CB, " _We heard it, Luke. Go and get Bo back, but please be careful. We'll take care of Boss and the convict, then meet you there as soon as we can. Luke, did Enos say that he's been shot?_ "

"Yeah, it looks that way, but don't either of you worry," Luke responded softly, trying to sound reassuring. "He's going to be fine. He's a Duke, remember?"

" _That's right,_ " Uncle Jesse answered, having taken the CB mic from his niece. " _Go and get our boy back, but Luke… I want you to be careful. I need you both to come back, do you hear me?_ "

Luke paused for a moment and then replied, "I hear you, Uncle Jesse. I'll find him, I promise."

The car chase…

Daisy kept driving behind the sheriff as they were all trying to catch up to Perry's car to save Boss Hogg and it wasn't long before the convict's vehicle was spotted. Rosco had tried calling out to Perry over the intercom, urging the man to pull over, even though he knew that it wasn't going to do him any good, and it didn't, as the man just kept on speeding.

Sweet Daisy shook her head anxiously as she quickly looked to her uncle, who placed his hand gently over hers for strength, then he picked up the CB's mic again and called out to the crooked lawman in front of them as he said, "Listen Rosco, we're going to take another road to cut ahead of that crook and as soon as we cut him off, yer goin' to have to ram him off the side of the road. Do you hear me?"

" _Of course I hear you,_ " the sheriff responded gruffly. " _Just hurry up, would you? I am sure Boss must be scared out of his mind. Whatever you do, don't screw this up or I'll have you both arrested._ "

"You just do your part and we'll do ours," Jesse answered coolly, then released the mic.

Daisy changed directions of their truck as she drove up a steeper road while she replied sarcastically, "It's nice to nice to know that he's grateful for our help."

Uncle Jesse responded, "Oh he's grateful all right. And so is J.D. Neither of 'em know how to show it is all, seeing as neither of them have much sense to express their gratitude, at least not without a little bit of persuasion."

"Are you ready, Uncle Jesse?" the middle cousin asked as soon as they were in position to break out ahead of the convict.

"Do it!" the patriarch shouted as Daisy swiftly slammed her foot on the truck accelerator as she pulled it down and out in front of the vehicle now behind them, then Rosco did the same as he pulled to the side of the car and shoved it off over the side, causing Perry to crash into the tree now directly in front of him.

Everyone quickly got out of their vehicles and raced over to the broken down car as Boss slowly climbed out laughing, then upon seeing his sheriff and enemies he called out, "Oh, oh, Rosco! Jesse! Daisy! You did it! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! That was great!"

Rosco made it to his fat little friend first as Daisy asked, "Are you all right, Boss?"

"I'm never better!" Boss answered happily. "This criminal is going back to jail and I don't have to lose any of my money to save no one. Uh… uh.. uh… I mean…"

"Don't sweat it, J.D.," Uncle Jesse replied sadly, having suddenly been reminded of the youngest member of their family, then carefully made his way back up to his pickup. "I know what you meant."

Daisy followed after her uncle while Rosco, who was struggling with the convict as helped him out of the wreck and placed his wrists in cuffs, then she called down to them shouting, "We have to go. We're glad you're alright, Boss!"

As the Dukes sped off again, Boss smiled as he stated, "Of course I'm alright. Rosco, you dodo, get this skunk in the back of your patrol car and let's git back into town. I'm starving!"


	14. Chapter 14

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Fourteen

Luke arrived outside of the old junkyard in record time, as this was the race of his life, knowing that his cousin's life was at stake more than it has ever been before. As soon as he pulled the General to a stop, the oldest Duke cousin paused a moment to think of his best course of action, not wanting to risk his enemy seeing him too soon in case he was close enough to Bo to hurt him even worse than he already had. Without saying a word, Cooter gently put a hand on his shoulder for support.

Luke spoke up quietly saying, "I've never been scared when facing an enemy of ours, Cooter. At least not when it's only my life that's at risk. And I know that when me and Bo fight together, we always come out on top. But this… this is different. This is it and if I lose, and Bo dies, I don't know what I'll do."

Cooter answered, "You really need to stop focusing on the worst case scenario and just fight, buddy roe. Let's get in there and get him back. Enos and Cletus should be here soon."

"You're right," Luke responded as he finally walked forward, gripped the fence that stood before them tightly, then began to climb up in order to get over it and into the yard. "Under normal circumstances, I would just ram the gate down."

"I really wish… this was one of them circumstances," the mechanic replied gruffly as he struggled to follow up after one of his closest friends.

As soon as he jumped down to the ground on the inside of the fence, then helped Cooter the rest of the way, Luke spoke up again as he said, "Just be careful. Benson could be anywhere in here."

Cooter looked all around him as they continued walking forward as he answered, "Maybe you should have brought yer bow and arrows with the dynamite attached to 'em. Lee's most likely got himself a gun or two."

Luke shook his head as he responded, "I've got a weapon, my knife, and there's plenty of things around here we can use to fight with. Why don't you go right and see if you can't find anything that way. I'm gonna go left."

"Be careful, Lukas," his friend quickly stated as he turned back to look at him.

"You too," Luke replied as he also looked over at Cooter before he disappeared around a corner.

After a few minutes of searching, while an eerie silence surrounded him, Luke suddenly felt a sense of danger sneaking up behind him and swiftly turned around in time to stop his enemy from striking him down with a large knife he held over him as Luke put his arm up to shield himself from the attack, then threw a punch to his face to push him back a couple of steps.

Luke stood prepared for another attack as Lee Benson simply smiled, then he spoke up saying, "I was going to call you over the CB once I finished what I was working on, but then I saw you pull up outside of this place in that junk orange car of yours. I suppose that I shouldn't be all that surprised."

The former Marine commander glared at his enemy as he asked, "Where is he? If you want to be free, I'll let you go, but first I just want to know where my cousin is. Where's Bo!"

Benson looked down at the knife in his hand, then back at the man he hated more than anyone and answered, "I realize that you actually have no intention of allowing me to escape permanently, especially after you see what it is that I've done to that loud mouth cousin of yours, but you must know that I have no intention of leaving this county without seeing you dead either."

"Where is he?" Luke shouted even more angrier than before as, with surprising speed and ferocity than Lee had ever seen in the man, the former Marine commander moved and shoved Benson back against a pile of cars stacked on top of one another as he kneed the convict hard in the stomach, knocked the weapon from his hand, then grabbed his throat and finally stared coldly into his dark eyes. "Tell me!"

"Do you hear that, Luke?" Lee asked cruelly when suddenly the sound of the crusher going could be heard from not too far away. "That's the sound of the machine that's about to end Bo's life any minute. This is it, your pivotal moment. It's zero hour. Stay here and continue to fight me, or run to try to save your cousin's life. It's your choice."

Without a second thought, Luke released his hold upon Benson as he ran through the stacks of other clunker cars and garbage until he came into the clearing where he saw a car inside the compacter that was about to be crushed. He raced toward the car while he shouted out for Cooter's help to stop the machine.

Thankfully, Cooter also heard the crusher and ran toward the opening, then upon hearing Luke's order, he ran to get to the controls where someone else was climbing down from and quickly ran off. When he arrived, he saw that the controls had been destroyed themselves, making it impossible for the mechanic to stop the machine. So, he jumped down and ran to go give Luke a hand with trying to break into the rear door of the car, where he could see through the door's window that Bo was lying unconscious and bound upon the vehicle's backseat.

Luke quickly grabbed a piece of metal, using it to break through the window, then worked on prying open the door with it as the top of the car was starting to cave in, then Luke cried out, "Come on, break dang it! Pull Cooter!"

Their mechanic friend was trying to pull open the door with all his strength as he shouted, "I'm pulling! We've got it!"

The door finally gave way as the two men pried it off, then Luke swiftly reached in to grab his cousin and pulled him out as they all fell back against the ground, just before the giant machine came down the rest of the way, demolishing what little was left of the wreck. The crusher began to make a horrendous noise as it continued to run, despite it being all the way against the bottom of the compactor, then the equipment crashed and burst, finally dying like the rest of the business here had years ago.

"Bo," Luke whispered through tears that ran down his face as he held his cousin close within his arms after cutting through the ropes that bound his wrists behind him as well as his ankles together, finally being able to see the real damage Lee Benson had inflicted upon him. "I need you… to hold on now. You're gonna be… okay."

"Luke! Bo!" Enos shouted as he suddenly appeared before them and stopped shortly upon seeing the two broken men, who were his best friends. "Oh my goodness, no."

Cooter was standing back, not knowing what to do or say until he finally looked at Enos and Cletus, who both had finally arrived, then said firmly, "Enos, you need to drive Bo and Luke to the Tri County Hospital, right now! Don't worry about the General, Luke. I'll drive him back for you. Come on, Enos! Move! Move!"

The two deputies broke free from their shock as they carefully stepped in and helped Luke carry Bo to Enos' patrol car and once the two Dukes were inside, Enos drove quickly, but as smoothly as possible toward the hospital, while Cletus sat beside his partner in the passenger's seat.

After several minutes of silence aside from the sobs that escaped Luke's lips, the oldest of the Duke cousins finally said despondently, "Enos, can you please call Uncle Jesse and Daisy over the CB and have them meet us there? I almost forgot, they're on their way to the junkyard right now. Just don't… don't say anything about… how he is. They'll see for themselves in time."

"Of course, Luke," Enos responded and then did as his friend asked.

"Thank you both for all you've done," Luke spoke again after the call went out. "If you hadn't have been there when you were, I'm not sure what would have happened. I owe you everything."

Cletus shook his head as he replied, "Well, buzzards on a buzz saw, Luke. It's us who owe you for all the times we've pulled those rotten arrests on you and yer family."

As they finally arrived, Enos quickly stated, "We're there, Luke. We made it!"

"Bo?" Luke muttered nervously when he no longer could feel the weak beat of the younger man's heart as he held his hand over his cousin's chest, then lowered his head down over his nose and mouth in order to listen and feel for a breath. "Bo! No, don't you dare do this… He's not… he's not breathing. Bo!"

"Hold on," Enos answered as he raced around to the side of his car to help Luke lift Bo out so they could carry him inside the emergency wing, while Cletus rushed inside to cry out for help from the doctors.

The men and women working there swiftly made their way to them and pulled the young man from Luke's arms, then rushed him into one of the operating rooms, while one of the nurses quickly stopped Luke from following after them. He tried to push passed the woman, but finally quit resisting as he collapsed to the floor outside of the room as he began to weep openly. Cooter walked inside in time to see his friend fall and start to cry, while he, Enos, and Cletus could do nothing, but watch sadly and wait.

It wasn't too long afterward that both Daisy and Jesse came running inside as well and upon seeing Luke on the floor the way that he was, they immediately thought the worst as Daisy broke down as well, while tears came to Uncle Jesse's eyes, but kept his distress to himself as he pulled his niece into his arms and held her close.

No one said a word for almost twenty minutes while they all remained where and the way they were, until Luke finally stood again and started walking past them toward the exit, allowing his family to see the blood that covered the oldest cousin's clothes, until Jesse swiftly stopped him as he grabbed his arm, seeing the coldness and fire in his nephew's eyes, then asked nervously, "Luke, where are you going, boy?"

Without turning to look at either his uncle or his cousin, Luke kept his eyes on the door as he responded angrily, "Lee Branson killed Bo because of me, and I… I let him get away. I'm going to go find him and make him pay."

"Now you listen to me, Luke," Uncle Jesse replied firmly, tears still falling down his face, as his grip on his boy tightened. "You know that that's not how we handle things. Revenge is never right, no matter how badly we want it. When we do find Benson, we will make sure that he goes back to Chickasaw County Prison where he belongs for the rest of his natural life."

"And you really think that Boss Hogg, Rosco, or even Enos can help us with that?" Luke asked angrily. "No way! Prison's too good for a heartless man like him. No, for once I'm going to do what I should have done the last time he tried to hurt our family. I'm going to find him, and I'm going to kill him."

With that said, Luke broke free of his uncle's hold and stormed out of the hospital without another word, leaving Uncle Jesse and Daisy behind, as well as Cooter, Enos, and Cletus as they all stared after the Duke in bewilderment upon seeing and hearing the darkness within the young man that none of them had ever seen or heard before.

Daisy tightened her own grasp on Jesse as she asked, "Oh Uncle Jesse, what are we going to do? Bo's dead? And now…"

Cooter started following after Luke as he called back to his friends, "Don't worry, I'll find him before he does what he'll regret!"

"Don't you worry about Luke none, Daisy," their guardian answered his niece as he gently took the young woman's face in his hands and wiped away her tears. "He'll do the right thing when the time comes. As for Bo…"

"Excuse me, are you the family of the young man who was just brought in here a little bit ago?" one of the doctors interrupted suddenly as he walked out from the operating room and stood nervously before them.

Uncle Jesse stepped forward as he responded sadly, "Yes, sir. Bo is my nephew. I know that you…"

When the old man couldn't finish, the doctor quickly continued, "We were able to bring him back. As of right now, he's still alive and I promise you, we're doing everything we can to keep him alive."

"He's alive!" Daisy cried as she fell to the floor feeling an overwhelming relief as Enos knelt down before her and pulled her into his arms. "Oh… Bo's still alive!"

"Yes, he is," the surgeon replied calmly. "However, his condition is quite severe, his wounds, extensive. Truthfully, I'm amazed we were able to revive him, but you must know and be prepared, that he may yet still not make it. From what we can tell, he's got at least three broken ribs, one of which has nicked his lung and started him to bleed on the inside. This is the worst of his wounds, but there are plenty more; a bullet wound in his right upper thigh, of which the bullet has already been removed, multiple cuts, bruises, and lacerations all across his body, broken bones that include his left cheekbone, and finally substantial blood loss. As I said, it doesn't look good, but we'll do our best and let you know immediately how things go once we're finished. I'm so sorry."

When the man left the Dukes and their friends alone again, Uncle Jesse spoke again saying fearfully, "My God! My dear, sweet boy."

All of a sudden, Daisy stood again with Enos' help as she stated dreadfully, "Luke, oh Uncle Jesse, Luke doesn't know yet. He still believes Lee Benson killed Bo."

"We've got to get this news to him," the patriarch answered determinedly. "He's got to know."

"I'll try to reach him over his CB," Enos responded as he ran out to his patrol car to do so.

Cletus added, "And I'll try to get a hold of Cooter in case we can't reach Luke."

After they left, only the Dukes remained behind as Jesse held his niece once again, then said softly, "Don't you worry, Daisy. They'll reach him one way or another. And if they can't, we'll send Enos and Cletus out to find him. And Bo… he isn't going to die. You heard the doctor. It's a miracle that Bo is still alive and if he's strong enough to come back after dying once, then there's no way that God will take him now. The Lord knows how much we need him."

"I sure hope you're right, Uncle Jesse," Daisy replied as he led his niece over to sit down in one of the chairs in the waiting room. "Because if you're wrong, we might just end up losing Luke too."

"Believe me, no one knows that better than I do," Jesse spoke again fearfully. "Luke loves that boy more than he loves anyone else in this whole world."


	15. Chapter 15

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Fifteen

"Luke?" Enos tried calling out over the CB several times in hope of reaching his friend, but to no avail, as the oldest Duke cousin wasn't answering his calls or any that Cletus made over any of the channels. "Come on, Luke. There's something important that you've got to know. It's about Bo. Come back to the hospital, please!"

"You've had no luck either, huh?" Cletus asked as he gave up and walked over to stand with his partner. "Luke must have turned off his radio. I can't get a hold of Cooter either. Don't know why he would have his off too."

Enos shook his head worryingly, then he replied, "He might just be too busy looking for Luke to answer either one of us. Luke knows that his family would try to get him to stop this foolishness of him going off to kill this Benson fella. We need to go out to find him. That way, Daisy and Jesse can stay here, with Bo."

Boss Hogg and Rosco pulled up in the sheriff's patrol car, then the commissioner spoke up asking, "Where are you two off to? Actually, what are you doing here in the first place? I thought you were supposed to be back in town. I don't recall seeing you coming to my rescue earlier?"

"That's because we've been busy, Uncle Boss," Cletus answered nervously. "I mean, well uh… I mean that we've been out helping Luke Duke rescue Bo. He's…"

"He's what?" Rosco responded curtly. "He's a Duke, that what he is. Surely you should know that Boss Hogg's life is more important than that of Bo Duke's."

It was then that Jesse walked outside to see if the two deputies had been successful at all and upon overhearing most of the conversation between them, J.D.'s, and the sheriff, he replied coldly, "Don't you dare go badmouthing my nephew today of all days, Rosco. You will shut yer mouth and listen to me for once. I need both Enos and Cletus to go out to find Luke before that foolhardy boy goes and gets himself into trouble that he won't be able to get out of."

Boss shook his head in protest as he answered, "I'm afraid that isn't possible, Jesse. I need them… to… I've forgotten the reason why I came here. Rosco, why are we here?"

"Well, because Cletus called you over the CB to inform you that Bo Duke was here in the hospital, Boss," Rosco responded quickly. "You said you thought it smart to see how much the Dukes have exaggerated the sever…"

"Aagh! Hush Rosco, hush!" the little fat man in white cried out to cut his bumbling sheriff off. "What he means Jesse, is that we've come to see how your nephew is doing?"

The Duke patriarch really knew better than to believe that, but he lowered his head and nodded his thanks anyway, then he replied, "Bo isn't doing well at all, but he is still alive, so we're grateful. We have yet to be allowed to see him so we can judge for ourselves, as the doctors are still busy operating on the boy. Luke isn't doing much better."

Boss looked at his oldest friend, or enemy on most days, and asked in confusion, "Both of them boys were hurt? But I thought…"

"Bo was the only one wounded, but Luke is badly shaken up and has disappeared in order to hunt the man responsible for hurting his cousin down," Jesse answered sadly.

"So, he's gone after revenge," J.D. stated in surprise. "I never thought I'd see the day."

Daisy finally came outside as well, as she responded firmly, "Luke hasn't gone and done anything yet, Boss. Don't you dare think that you'll be arresting him soon for anything, because if you so much as lay a hand on him…!"

Uncle Jesse stopped her as he replied, "Don't you worry none, Daisy. J.D. and Rosco won't be putting Luke in jail today or any other day, at least not for a charge that they would actually have a right to arrest him for. J.D., right now, my boy is out there somewhere with the belief that the man responsible for all this has killed Bo because his heart had stopped when Luke pulled in here with him. But Bo is still alive. They brought him back and Luke doesn't know it. We need both Enos and Cletus to go and find him before Luke does ruin his life. Do you understand me?"

"Oh, fine!" Boss Hogg answered finally. "Enos, Cletus, you may go, but don't stay out there too long. I need you both to get back to the rest of your actual, important duties."

"And I thought their important duties included hunting down my boys, so that you can have them thrown into prison under trumped up, nonsense charges," Jesse responded mockingly as both deputies ran to their patrol cars and sped off.

Boss frowned at the patriarch and replied, "Those charges were never nonsense charges."

Jesse nodded and answered, "Of course."

Meanwhile…

"Luke, come on buddy roe, come on back?" Cooter said through the CB in hope of reaching his friend while searching for him after having borrowed a car from the hospital's parking lot, as his own truck was still in town. "Luke, if you can hear me, I know you know that what you're doing is not what Bo would want. Do you really think that he would want you to throw your own life away on account of him?"

"Don't you dare go blaming any of this on Bo," Luke responded coldly, finally having picked up the mic himself after ignoring the crazy mechanic's pleas up until now. "He wasn't responsible for any of this. He's dead… because I failed to make sure that Lee was secure where he was twice!"

Cooter shook his head and then replied, "You aren't responsible for this either. Lee Benson is responsible, Sheriff Little and the rest of the prison guards are responsible, hell… even the Marines are partially responsible for this because they failed to make sure that their prisoner went off to the right prison. They should have known Chickasaw County was one of the worst prison in these here parts. Even Boss Hogg and Rosco probably could have taken better care of this man than they did."

Luke wanted to smile at that last comment, but couldn't as he couldn't get the images of Bo's broken body lying within his arms out of his mind, so instead the oldest cousin simply stated, "It wouldn't have mattered. Where they would have sent Benson, it wouldn't have mattered. He still would have escaped. He wants to see me dead as badly as I want to see him dead now too. I have to stop him, which is why I'm going to turn off my CB. I can't have you and especially not Uncle Jesse or Daisy in my ear trying to tell me that revenge isn't the answer. I would have gladly given my life or would have gone to prison for killing that man as I should have done before if it meant keeping Bo or the rest of my family alive, but now it's too late for that. So now, the least I can do is make things right the only way I can and that's by making sure he can't hurt anyone else I love ever again. If Benson wants me, I'll give him what he wants. Good bye, Cooter. And please tell Daisy and Uncle Jesse that I love them."

"Luke?" the mechanic called out when he heard the radio click, realizing that his friend had just signed off for the last time. "Luke! Dang it! I can't outmatch the General Lee. What am I supposed to do now?"

" _Cooter, can you hear me, come back?_ " the man could hear Enos say after a few minutes of him ranting to himself as if there was somebody else in the car with him. " _Cooter, if you can hear me, it's urgent. It's about Bo._ "

That got Cooter's attention as he swiftly grabbed the mic once again and asked urgently, "I'm here, Enos. What's going on? What about Bo?"

The deputy quickly came back on as he said, " _You're there, oh thank goodness! Ha! Ha! Oh Cooter, have you spoken to Luke? Cletus and I have both been trying to get in touch with him, but…_ "

"He's not exactly in the mood to talk, Enos," Cooter answered curtly. "I mean, we've spoken, a little. I've been trying to convince him not to… What about Bo? Do the doctors want to speak to Luke about any final arrangements or something?"

" _No, not at all,_ " the deputy quickly responded. " _It's just that… Bo's still alive! He ain't dead after all. The doctors, they saved him! He's alive!_ "


	16. Chapter 16

Zero Hour in Hazzard County

Chapter Sixteen

Luke sped along the back roads of Hazzard in silence, trying to come up with a plan for when he came up against Benson again, though he was having trouble concentrating on much of anything, including where his enemy might be hiding now, since he had allowed him to escape at the junkyard. Luke knew that he made the right decision to release his hold on the convict because if he had hesitated a moment longer, Bo would have died right then, crushed into wreckage of the car that had entrapped him, but this knowledge didn't exactly make him feel better about letting Benson get away.

If he could just focus harder on what was really important and not so much on his blind rage toward his enemy and the agony he felt over losing Bo, then he would have realized that the doctors or nurses never actually came out from the operating room to offer their condolences on his loss and that if Bo had really died as Luke believed, they would have come out shortly after they took his cousin away from him, but Luke's blind hate for Benson kept the former Marine from seeing any of this.

All of a sudden, Luke came to the realization that the one place which made sense as to where Lee Benson would have gone for a final confrontation with him, was his own home on Uncle Jesse's farm. It seemed too obvious, which was why it was the perfect place for the criminal to hide, especially since both his uncle and cousin Daisy were currently at the hospital and would be for the duration of the day. No one else would suspect that Benson would return to the place where he first caused trouble for the Dukes. Luke finally pulled up outside of their farmhouse, then cautiously made his way inside. Luke found Benson sitting down at their kitchen table, drinking from the small flask of shine Uncle Jesse had stored away for medicinal purposes.

Lee held a gun firmly in his other hand as he kept it pointed at his former commander, then spoke up first as he said cruelly, "Hello again, Luke. I knew that you would figure out to come here eventually. I never did take you for a fool. How is that cousin of yours? Did you get to him in time?"

Luke glared at him as he responded coldly, "Now it's just you and me, Benson. And this time, there's nothing or no one that will get in our way. You've been waiting for this moment ever since I put you away two years ago. Let's get this over with."

"You didn't answer my question," the convict replied coolly. "How's Bo?"

Not being able to hold in his rage any longer, Luke suddenly charged the man who had murdered his cousin, despite Benson holding a gun on him. The weapon didn't scare him, fear having disappeared from him the moment Bo's heart stopped. Benson was knocked down on his back as his gun fell from his hand and skirted across the floor, but as Luke continued to punch and kick him with as much ferocity as he could, the convict was able to strike back with just as much strength. The two men were evenly matched, each feeling the need for revenge as strongly as the other. The kitchen was soon in shambles while their battle continued on, but it wasn't long before Luke was able to force his opponent out the door to the outside.

Finally, Luke was able to gain the upper hand as he swiftly forced Benson against his back upon the ground and beat him until Lee was near unconsciousness. Luke quickly found the man's knife he had seen the man use on one of their fellow Marines years ago, then raised it high above him and was about to strike the final blow, until all of a sudden he thought he saw and heard Bo cry out to him, only to turn and see Cooter running toward him, shouting at him to stop. However, the split second he could hear Bo's voice again, was all Luke needed to be reminded that his cousin would never want this, especially done in his name. So, Luke slowly rose again to his feet, as he dropped the blade on the ground and then turned away from the man still lying at his feet.

"Boy oh, boy," Cooter stated as he tried to catch his breath after running over to his friend. "I thought… I thought…"

Understanding what the mechanic was trying to say, Luke nodded as he too focused on trying to breathe, then answered, "So did I. I almost did. I wanted to… kill him, so badly. But Bo…"

Suddenly Cooter remembered why he was there as he quickly responded, "He ain't dead, Luke. I mean… he was briefly, but the doctors, they were able to bring him back. Bo's alive!"

"He's alive?" Luke asked in confusion as he stared at his friend looking for any sign of deceit, finding none. "He's alive! Ha! Ha! He's ali…"

Luke was cut off when all of a sudden he cried out in pain, as Lee Benson had silently managed to move from off the ground just enough to grab his discarded knife and plunge it into the Duke's upper back in one final attempt to kill him, but was swiftly shoved back by Cooter as the mechanic quickly threw an uppercut to the convict's jaw, then another punch to his stomach and finally one to his face in order to knock him unconscious.

"Luke!" Cooter shouted as he rushed to his friend's side and carefully lifted him up so that he could help him back to Jesse's truck. "Hold on now, buddy roe. Yer gonna be just fine. This wound don't look too bad. Although, I think you're going to give Uncle Jesse and Daisy quite the scare."

The younger man nodded as he leaned against the back of the seat while Cooter drove them back to the hospital, then he spoke up saying, "Don't worry, I've had worse back when I was with the Marines and I came through all of that just fine. I'll be alright."

Cooter replied, "You'd better be. We don't need the two of you both dying today. It's bad enough that we already had to deal with one. If Bo's going to pull through this, he's going to need you right there at his side."

"Bo's alive," Luke muttered before he slowly fell unconscious.

"Enos, Cletus, do you two got your ears on?" the man quickly called out over the CB. "This is crazy Cooter calling at ya, come back?"

Cletus answered, " _I'm here, Cooter. Did you find 'im?_ "

The mechanic held the mic up again as he responded, "That's affirmative, Cletus. I've found Luke, though he ain't exactly in the best shape either. He'll be alright, but I'm going to need you two to get out to the Duke Farm pronto to pick up the good for nothing piece of trash that did all this. You'll find 'im out cold and madder than a swarm of hornets when he finally does come to, so I suggest you be real careful and be sure to cuff him good for his trip back to jail. Do you copy?"

" _We sure do, Cooter,_ " Enos replied back. " _Just worry about Luke. We'll take good care of Mr. Benson. We can be there in just a few minutes._ "

"Thanks a lot," Cooter finally answered upon signing off, then continued to drive the rest of the way to the Tri County Hospital in silence, breaking a number of speeding laws to get there. "Everything's going to be alright now, I hope."

Back at the hospital…

It was late into the night when Luke finally started to come around slowly, finding that his free hand was being held by Daisy, who had fallen asleep with her upper body lying over his with her hand holding his own. He also found that his left arm was bound within a sling and his shoulder and chest in bandages. He couldn't remember anything at first, including the reason for him being in a hospital, and he weakly started to sit up, his movement awakening the middle cousin and getting their uncle's attention as the family patriarch left his youngest nephew's side to walk over to his oldest's.

Luke spoke up first as he looked between those surrounding him in confusion and started to ask, "Uncle Jess… Jesse, Daisy? What hap… Bo!"

Seeing that Luke was starting to remember everything, Jesse quickly took his hand in his own and patted it gently as he responded, "Just take it easy, boy. You've gone and scuffed yerself up real good this time. Don't you worry none now. Bo's right here in the bed beside you and he's still breathing, though not exactly on his own just yet. It might be awhile before that can happen."

"He's been hooked up to some machine to help keep him alive right now," Daisy said sadly while Luke slowly continued to try to lift himself from off his bed, finding that his right arm was attached to a couple of tubes leading up the pain medications being pumped into him until he quickly pulled them out, then moved again to sit with Bo at his bedside with Daisy's help. "He's in real bad shape."

"The doctors here don't seem too confident that he can pull through this, but they don't know us Dukes very well," Uncle Jesse replied with a chuckle as he gently rubbed his nephew's back, while Luke simply sat, staring fearfully down at Bo, who was lying lifeless and pale with a breathing tube running along his face beneath his nose, multiple tubes running along his arm as Luke had, had bandages wrapped around most of his upper body, his right leg and left arm inside a cast, and a bandage covering his left cheek. "Bo's as stubborn as you are, Luke, if not more so. He's still alive and he will fight his way back to us, you'll see."

Luke lowered his head to his chest and closed his eyes while he finally spoke again as he answered hopelessly, "I thought for sure he was gone. I felt him die in my arms as we rushed him here. When I left to go find Benson, I never felt so full of hate for a man as I did right then. I almost killed him for what he did to Bo."

Daisy quickly responded, "But you didn't! Cooter said that you stopped yourself. That's why Benson was able to hurt you too."

"I stopped because I saw Bo and heard his voice in my head," Luke replied when he finally took the youngest Duke's hand within his own. "It was Cooter calling out to me, but somehow Bo flashed into my mind. He made me recognize that he wouldn't want me to ruin my life out of revenge. And I couldn't do it, least of all in Bo's name."

"I'm very proud of you, boy," Uncle Jesse answered confidently. "Just promise me that you won't ever do something so stupid like that again. I don't know what I would have done if I had lost either of my boys tonight."

Luke finally looked up at their guardian, then to Daisy as he smiled and responded, "I promise. Look, I'm alright, or least, I'm going to be. Could you give me a few minutes alone with him please?"

Both Jesse and Daisy nodded and slowly slipped out of the room, then Luke turned back to Bo while tears started to fall from his eyes once again as he stated quietly, "You really had me scared, cousin. Seeing you this way… It should have been me who got the brunt end of Benson's anger, not you. I'm so sorry you had to pay for my mistakes. Everyone, including you, keeps telling me that I shouldn't blame myself, but how can I not? You've got to pull through this, Bo. I'm not any good out there without you, especially among the roads or on a race track. The General needs his pilot and both Daisy and Uncle Jesse will never let me out of their sight again for fear that I'll get myself killed all alone. You and I come as a pair, remember? Please, Bo! Don't you dare give up on me now."

Nine weeks later…

"Yeeeee… haw!" Bo cried out excitedly as he and Luke jumped across Hazzard's largest creek with the General, then landed roughly, but perfectly upon the ground on the other side and continued speeding along the country roads, Bo's first drive behind the wheel upon being released from the hospital three weeks ago. "Oh, yes! Ow."

"What's wrong, are you alright?" Luke asked nervously upon his cousin's yelp, seeing the hint of pain in his face.

Bo rubbed his hand carefully over his still sore ribs and looked over at Luke, then back to the road ahead as he replied, "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm still just a little bit sore is all, but man that felt great!"

Luke shook his head in disdain, then gave in as he nodded and answered, "Yeah, okay. That was pretty great. I know I shouldn't be letting you drive like that just yet. Uncle Jesse's going to have both our hides the second we get home you know, especially if you start feeling worse later because I let you do this."

"I won't say anything if you won't?" Bo responded with a grin. "Boy, does it feel good to have things finally back to normal."

"You can sure say that again," Luke replied, then turned away to look out his window with a sadness in his eyes.

It didn't go unnoticed as Bo looked over at him, then asked, "What's wrong?"

The older Duke cousin answered, "It's nothing, really. It's just that I still can see the pain you're in, even though you've tried to hide it from all of us, but what bothers me the most is that you haven't even once spoken to us about the things that happened to you, the things that Benson did to you, because of me."

"There isn't anything to talk about," Bo responded, feeling confused as to why this was being brought up now. "What happened, happened and even though it was painful and… Look, I know that you took care of Benson, making sure that he's back in a more secure prison where he belongs and where he will be for the rest of his life. I was afraid, but more than that, I also knew that you'd find me and save me, which you did. I promise you, I'm alright. It was worse for me having to listen to a grown man cry while I was still in the coma at the hospital. By the way, I certainly don't blame you for anything. It wasn't your fault."

"Thank you for saying that," Luke replied as he looked back over at him. "I guess I just needed to hear it from you. So, where to now, Cousin?"

The blonde smiled as he answered, "What do you say we go see if we can't find either Rosco or Cletus out here somewhere and make some trouble? It feels like it's been ages since we've given them and Boss reason to arrest us."

Luke shook his head again, only this time he was smirking, and finally he responded, "Yeah, sure. Why not? I could use a good car chase."

"Ha! Ha!" Bo laughed as he stepped down harder on the accelerator pedal. "Let's do this! Where do you think they'll be?"

"Let's try down by Rosco's favorite spot to set up his speed trap," Luke replied after thinking for a moment. "He's been near the bridge a lot lately, you know, to try to catch some unsuspected dupe just passing through Hazzard."

The younger man quickly asked, "Did he catch anyone famous while I was in the hospital? Please tell me I didn't miss Dolly Parton?"

Luke laughed hard and when he finally could, he answered, "Don't you worry none, Bo. If Dolly Parton ever came through town, there'd be nothing that would stop you from getting that kiss from her you've been wanting since you were three. You haven't missed a darn thing, I swear it."

"That's because we haven't been around until now to make life here interesting," Bo said smugly. "And we do make things mighty interesting."

"You've got that right," Luke spoke again coolly. "Let the General know you're back. Gun it!"

The End


	17. Thank You

Thank you to all of those who have read and have written reviews for my stories! They are much appreciated. I'm honored to have you all for fans and I hope to hear from you all again in the future, should you choose to read and enjoy more of my work. Best of wishes to you all!

Sincerely,

Genevieve Kelly


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